
Qass. 



flS^ 



Book^ 



IQIP VS 



:0R:. 



BLAIRSVILLE'S HARVELOUS DEVEL 

OPHENT IN A QUARTER OF 

A CENTURY. 



By CHAS. KERLER, JR. 



«^4- 






BLAlRSVlLtE, Pa. 

Press of the Evening Courier, 
1894. 

Ssdunge 
Univ. of Midki. 
I10V2 5 ld3a 



ipip vs. 1894 



CHAPTER I. 



AN OLD CITIZEN REVISITS HIS HOME AFTER A LONG ABSENCE— 
BLAIRSVILLE DEVELOPED INTO A CITY— EVIDENCE OF WON- 
DERFUL PROSPERITY AND GROWTH. 

For a long, long time I had looked forward to this eleventh 
day of July, 1919, as being the one that would probably usher 
in for me one of the pleasantest experiences of my life. 
Twenty-five years before, just to the very day, I had left my 
old home at Blairsville and had gone to the island of Samoa to 
seek my fortune. During my absence I had, of course, heard 
frequently by letter from my friends and had constantly been 
in receipt of the Evening Courier, so that I had been kept 
as well inform-ed of the great changes that had taken place in 
my native city as it is possible for one who has to depend 
altogether upon hearsay, and who is forced to rely largely upon 
his imagination in his attempt to picture in his mind's eye the 
new order of things. 

To-day as I sat in a luxurious palace car on the Atlantic and 
[*acific Air Line, which, by the way, had been constructed dur- 
ing my absence, and extended from New York to San Francisco 
in a line as straight as the crow flies, my thoughts went back 
to the day on which I had left the old town. That was on the 
eleventh day of July, 1894, and at that time Blairsville was just 
about starting on its recovery from a period of several years 
prostration of business. Just at that time the West Penn shops 
had been removed to Allegheny, while all the freight runs had 



been changed and the trainmen been forced to remove to either 
Allegheny or Conemaugh. The tin and sheet mills had also 
closed down, while the Asa G. Neville glass works had been 
idle for almost two years with no prospect ol an early resump- 
tion of work. The prospect was rather a gloomy one, and 
about the only rift in the dark clouds that overcast the business 
sky were the establishment of the Courier, Indiana county's 
first daily, which had occurred several months previous to my 
departure, and the prospective coming there of the Whitney 
Glass Company. I believe that at that time there was also 
some little talk of a large steel works that might possibly 
locate on a plot known as the Stouffer farm, about half a mile 
or so east of town. 

These were about the general conditions, and many of the 
citizens were heartily discouraged, though there were others, 
mostly, however, the younger element, that seemed to possess 
boundless faith in a bright future for their town, and boldly 
prophesied that ere many years had passed Blairsville would 
reach the place that they seemed to think her many advantages 
entitled her to. 

I was one of those who shared their faith and would have 
remained to shared my fortunes with the place of my birth, 
but just at this moment an opening presented itself that held 
out rich and assured promises, and as I preferred certainty to 
uncertainty, and the possession of immediate good fortune to 
the precarious prospects that confronted me here, I took ad- 
vantage of the opportunity, and soon many thousand miles of 
land and water separated me from the spot where I was born, 
and where there clustered so many pleasant associations con- 
nected with my youth and early manhood. To-day, though, I 
was coming back to revisit the scene of my earlier days, to see 
for myself the great changes that had occurred, and to feast 
Tny eyes upon the marvelous development that had raised 
Blairsville from the rank of little better than a country village 
to one of the largest cities in the state of Pennsylvania. 

Just as I was in the midst of my reveries the porter came 
along and said, "Get ready for Blairsville, we'll be there in 



fifteen minutes." I looked out of the window and saw that we 
had already entered the suburbs of the city. We were now 
passing through the residence portion and scores upon scores 
of magnificent villas, and costly mansions surrounded by ex- 
quisite grounds could be seen on either side as we sped swiftly 
along. 

Now we entered the manufacturing districts and furnaces, 
smoking stacks, fiery cupolas, whirling wheels and busy toilers 
were seen in bewildering confusion wherever the eyes might 
rest. There seemed to be all sorts of enterprises from a steel 
rail mill down to a clothes pin factory. 

After passing through several miles of this district the train 
entered a large glass and iron shed, the conductor and brake- 
man called: "All out for Blairsville ; Union Station, change 
cars for the North and South Trunk Line," and I stepped out 
into as elegant and extensive a passenger station as any I had 
ever seen in all my travels. A walk through the long waiting 
rooms, filled with hundreds of hustling people going to and 
coming from trains, brought me to the outside, where a hun- 
dred cab drivers extended invitations in urgent and vehement 
manner to take this or that vehicle, " for all parts of the city." 
As I looked about me I could hardly realize that this was 
Blairsville. On the east side of the immense granite paved 
square that fronted the station stood a fourteen-story marble 
and granite hotel that the friend who had met me said was the 
"Conemaugh," named after the river that partly encircles the 
city. Just in front of us was another imposing structure, sur- 
mounted by a tower that almost pierced the sky, that my com- 
panion, who by the way, was R. W, Wehrle, told me was the 
new City Hall that had just been finished at a cost of several 
millions. On the west side of the square the Plrst National 
Bank of Blairsville had its headquarters in one of the most 
elegant and beautifully adorned buildings that I had ever seen 
devoted to such a purpose. I stood there fairly bewildered and 
almost rooted to the pavement with astonishment as I looked 
upon the magnificent building, saw the rush of the countless 
throng hurrying along, watched the coming and going of the 



6 

electric and cable cars as they shot by with almost lightning 
speed, and listened to the rattle and roar of the elevated roads, 
the heavy wagons, the carriages and cabs rolling over the 
streets. 

I was brought to my senses, however, by Wehrle remarking : 
" Come to my apartments at the Conemaugh and rest yourself 
a little, and then when you have satisfied your hunger and 
gotten rid of the dirt and dust of travel, we'll explore the city." 
I must add that Wehrle was still an old bachelor, and also an 
immensely wealthy one. Just about the time I left Blairsville 
he had invested in a stone quarry at Conemaugh Furnace, a 
farm near Blacklick, a mineral spring at Ligonier and a gold 
mine in Virginia, and each one of these ventures had proven 
to be enormously profitable, particularly the mineral spring, 
the waters of which were bottled and sent all over the world. 
After we had dinner I could hardly wait to get out, and 
Wehrle, noting my impatience, ordered out his coachman and 
carriage and we started to view the many wonders that as yet I 
had not seen. 

As the coachman signaled the horses to start, Wehrle turned 
and said : " I suppose you are more anxious to see first what 
the old Blairsville boys have done than to go out into the manu- 
facturing section, where nearly everybody is a stranger to you ?" 
To which I, of course, made hearty assent. 

In obedience to the command, "turn into Grand Avenue," 
the driver wheeled to the right, and as I gazed on that busy and 
magnificent thoroughfare my companion turned and said: 
" This is old Market Street and on this avenue nearly all the 
old Blairsville boys are doing business. Just across the street 
where, if your eyes are strong enough to reach to the top of 
the building, you will see the sign, "Grand Depot," is where 
John A. Graff conducts a retail dry goods establishment that is 
only equalled by the big ones in Philadelphia. It takes four 
hundred and fifty clerks to wait on the thousands of customers 
that throng his immense establishment, and his yearly trade 
amounts to millions. 

" Right along side of him in that huge building fashioned in 



Grecian architecture is the home of the Blairsville Safe Deposit 
and Trust Company, which was evolved from the Blairsville 
National Bank, and has a capital stock, fully paid in, of two 
million dollars. 

" On this side of the street is F. M. Graff's wholesale grocery, 
whose jobbing trade extends all over the western end of the 
State and Eastern Ohio, and who has a dozen or more salesmen 
constantly on the road. 

" And, by the way, I forgot to tell you that the hotel where 
we are stopping is presided over by Charlie Duncan, who years 
ago used to run the little restaurant. 

"In the next block, we'll be there in a minute, we'll come to 
a wholesale shoe store, owned and operated by R. S. Zimmers, 
and he, too, has a trade that is immense." 

" What's become of George W. Crede ? " I asked as one after 
another of the old names were pointed out or referred to in 
conversation. "Oh, he's out of business long ago ; made his 
pile, you know, and living in a big mansion out in Falling Run 
Park," "And T. D. Cunningham," I asked. " What'sbecome 
of him ? " " Well," said Wehrle, " he's still with the same old 
bank. The people sent him to Congress a number of times, 
and after Paul Graff had retired to private life they made Cun- 
ningham president, which position he still holds, his duties, 
however, being principally an advisor on important matters." 
"While we're on banks and bankers," said I, "how about John 
H. Devers and R. M. Wilson, who were at the head of the new 
bank that had been started just a little while before I left?" 
"Mr. Devers," replied my friend, "is President of that Trust 
Company whose building you saw across from the Union 
Station, while Wilson quit banking about twenty years ago and 
returned to his first love, the law. He is now the leading cor- 
poration lawyer of the city and has a fabulous income from his 
practice. Then there are Howard Cunningham and Will Graff ; 
the latter is President of our system of cable and electric roads, 
while Howard, balder than ever, ten or twelve years ago 
founded a large insurance company, the operations of which 
he directs. W. L. Turner, ' Billy ' we still call him, is now one 



of the coal barons of the State. He went up into the Blacklick 
country and opened up the coal beds there, and now ' Billy's ' 
check is good for six figures and more than two thousand 
miners call him boss. J. H. Johnson, too, has been one of our 
lucky ones. Just before Carnegie moved his Homestead steel 
plant here, Johnson got a quiet tip, so he leased and bought 
every square foot of land in the neighborhood he could get hold 
of, and, of course, the result was that Johnson got big rich. 

" The biggest boost that Blairsville ever got was the removal 
here of the Pullman Car Shops, which was accomplished mainly 
by George McCune and Sam McClellen. Just after the big 
railroad strike in 1894, George Pullman decided that his shops 
were too near that hot-bed of anarchy, Chicago, and concluded 
to move them to the East. McCune and McClellen, learning of 
Pullman's determination, started a movement to induce him to 
come here with the result that they were successful. As a 
mark of their appreciation, the citizens had two bronze statues 
of these gentlemen made and placed in one of our parks, this 
being all the greater honor, inasmuch as it is rarely the case 
that persons are so honored while they are still living." 



CHAPTER II. 



FREEMAN WILKINSON'S OPERA HOUSE— STOCK EXCHANGE AND 
J. M. HARVEY'S POTTERY — THE CONEMAUGH MADE NAVI- 
GABLE — THE COURIER'S WONDERFUL GROWTH. 

"Do you see that beautiful building decorated in white and 
gold on the left hand corner there?" said my companion as we 
were rapidly approaching a wide boulevard that intersected 
the avenue upon which we were traveling. "That," said he, 
"is the Grand Opera House, erected by an old citizen whom, I 
know, you well remember as having been one of the young 
men about town when you left in 1894. It's no less a person 
than Freeman Wilkinson, who, when the Stock Exchange here 
was started, became one of the heaviest and at the same time 
most successful operators in the pit. I have seen him many a 
time stand to win or lose a cool half million, but, as he always 
won, it's hard to say how he would stand an equally heavy 
loss. Be that as it may, this opera house is his plaything, and 
he don't regret the three quarters of a million that it cost him. 
That greatest of all tragedians, a worthy successor to the Edwin 
Booth of our younger days, and, by the way, you ought to 
know him, John M. Kinkaid, treads the boards to-night in the 
leading role in the greatest American play ever written, "The 
American Martyrs," written by your old friend, James A. 
Woolf, who is now one of the most famous authors and play- 
wrights of this twentieth century. Woolf, as you may recollect, 
had always given evidence that he possessed considerable liter- 
ary genius, but it was only after the publication, some ten or 
twelve years ago, of his first great poem entitled, " To an Egg," 
that his genius and ability were universally recognized." 

As I leaned back against the luxurious cushions of the ele- 
gant vehicle I could hardly realize that I was really in Blairs- 



10 

ville and that these people my guide was telling me about, 
these men of wealth, of highest standing and the possessors of 
such rare ability were the Johns, Jims, Dicks and Bills of twenty- 
five years ago. Fellows with whom I had fished, to whom I 
had given many a toby and who had frequently asked me to 
oblige them with a bite of tobacco. I had heard a great deal 
of their rise and progress, but the half, no not the one-tenth, 
had been told, and each remark made by the friend at my side 
but served to astound me more and more. For a few minutes 
we kept silent as the carriage rolled along over the smooth 
granite pavement, and perhaps my reveries would have lasted 
longer had not the loud strains of a brass band burst upon my 
ears, and as I looked up to see where the music came from and 
what produced it, I noticed a procession of maybe a hundred 
plug-hatted and white-gloved men, wearing full-dress suits and 
headed by a large cornet band in gaudy uniforms come march- 
ing toward us. It was not an unusual sight, and I likely would 
have permitted the procession to pass without comment had 
not Wehrle turned and said : " Say, you remember Jim Gibson, 
don't you ? " and upon my breaking out into a laugh and reply- 
ing, " wh}^, of course, I remember him. The last thing he did 
on me before I left was to hire an organ grinder to play in front 
of my office for half a day," he continued : "Well, that's Gib- 
son's Mammoth Mastodonic Minstrel Aggregation. He organ- 
ized this company a few years ago and opens the season to- 
night down at the Alhambra, on the corner of Vine and Wal- 
nut. I'll bet you a case of Widow Cliquot that as soon as he 
hears you're in town he'll send you a pass for a box." 

I was still laughing over the recollection of some of Jim's old 
pranks when Dick nudged me and said: "Do you see that 
magnificent turreted building built of blue stone and trimmed 
with red stone, both of which, by the way, were quarried out 
of Chestnut ridge, not over five miles from here ? That is the 
Stock Exchange, and in it every day there are thousands upon 
thousands of shares of stock bought and sold. Thomas H. 
Long is president of it, and has long ago given up his mer- 
cantile business to engage in the manipulation of stocks and 



11 

bonds. Tom has gotten to be quite a bright and shining light 
in the financial world, and his time is all taken up in presiding 
over the business of the Exchange and in attending the meet- 
ings of the many corporations of which he is a director." It 
was certainly a beautiful edifice and I would have liked to ex- 
amine it more closely and to hear more of Long's career, but 
Wehrle was exhibiting a swiftly moving panorama, so in a 
minute Long and the Stock Exchange had passed out of mind 
as I gazed at the Masonic Temple that had been erected by 
Acacia Lodge, P. A. M. What a noble structure it was! The 
skill of the architect had been aided by the inspiration of the 
artist, and there it stood a poem in stone and a triumph of 
man's creative ability. Its front, which was of solid marble 
and vari-colored granite, was carved from foundation to the 
very tip of its beautiful tower that shot three hundred feet into 
the air with representations of Masonic symbols. Its windows 
were all of stained glass, that my friend told me had been de- 
signed by one of the most famous artists of the French school, 
and its whole aspect was magnificent and grand in the extreme. 
It stood a fitting monument of the noble order for whose local 
representatives it made a home and was more than worthy of 
the intense pride with which Wehrle told me the citizens gen- 
erally regarded it. 

I had hardly finished feasting my eyes upon its beauty when 
I happened to look up at one of the windows of an immense 
twenty-story office building that we were just then passing, 
and happened to notice on a window on the third floor the 
sign, "McGillick, Contractor." "Say, Wehrle," I asked, "is 
that Frank Gillick?— you recollect we used to call him " Flip?" 
"That's the very chappie," replied Richard, "only instead of 
taking contracts for the building of little four and six roomed 
frame houses, as he did when you were here, he's now, and has 
been for fifteen years, doing bigger jobs. He had the contract 
for building three hundred miles of the North and South Trunk 
Line and made a big pile off the job. But the biggest piece of 
work he ever did was on the Conemaugh river. When Con- 
gress appropriated seventy-five millions to make the Kiskimi- 



12 

nitas and Conemaugh navigable for steamboats as far as Johns- 
town, McGillick got the contract, in spite of the fact that some 
of the biggest contracting firms, in this country and Europe 
had put in bids. When you take a trip on the river you will 
see what an immense undertaking it was. There were scores 
of dams to build and mile after mile of stone walls, while the 
dredging of the channel was in itself an enormous undertak- 
ing. But the job not only paid McGillick, but it helped this 
town and the country all around here as nothing else could 
have done. When we get down to the wharves, which we will 
take in on our next trip, you will see anywhere from twenty- 
five to fifty passenger and freight steamers taking on or dis- 
charging their cargoes. You can step on board a steamer and 
go straight to New Orleans, and Harry White's dreams have 
been more than realized when almost fifty years ago he advo- 
cated this improvement. And, bj'^ the way, the finest boat on 
the river, one built by the Cramps, is named the ' General 
Harry White,' after the originator of this idea, which has made 
Blairsville virtually a seaport." 

Will wonders never cease ? When I was a boy there would 
be times in the summer when we could hardly find enough 
water to go swimming in or to float a log raft, and now on this 
same Conemaugh' s bosom were floating monster steamers that 
I was told were almost large enough to brave the storms of old 
ocean itself. 

Just then I happened to think of another of the old boys and 
inquired: "Dick, how about Jim Harvey? I haven't heard 
you mention him." -'Oh,' replied Wehrle, " I was just wait- 
ing until we'd pass his place of business before I'd say anything 
about him, but as we'll be there in a minute or two, I may as 
well begin now. About 1905 Jim sold out his grocery store to 
Robert George, who made his start in life as a newsboy selling 
the Courier, and organized a company for the manufacture of 
porcelain ware. In his mercantile business he had become 
quite familiar with this line of trade, and as extensive and valu- 
able deposits of potters clays had been discovered here in 1894, 
Jim quietly took options on the clay beds, and when Blairsville 



13 

had enlarged considerably and everything was on a boom, Jim 
sold out his business and started to develop the clay deposits. 
You just ought to see the potteries ; the kilns and the buildings 
cover twenty acres of ground and over two thousand men are 
employed. They make nothing but the very finest decorated 
ware, and at the World's Fair, held in Blairsville last year, the 
Harvey Art Pottery Company received the highest award over 
both American and European competitors. Their goods go to 
all parts of the world, and instead ol France and Germany 
supplying the United States with high grade and artistic porce- 
lain ware, we now supply them with a product they cannot 
equal. Jim is the old Jim ; always ready to help along in any- 
thing that's to be done for the good of the city. He believes 
that money is made for what it will do and buy, and though he 
is one of the big rich men of the city, yet he didn't become so 
by screwing and scrooging. Only the other day he gave his 
check for twenty-five thousand dollars for an electric fountain 
to be erected in Sloan Park." 

As this generous act was told me I could not help but think 
that it had always been the case that Blairsville people had been 
liberal, sometimes even to a fault. My thoughts ran back to 
twenty-five years ago when subscription papers were passed 
around in an attempt to raise a bonus of twelve thousand dol- 
lars to be given the Whitney Glass Company as an inducement 
for them to locate here, and how nobly and generously almost 
everybody responded. Why, even the children wanted to give, 
and, if I recollect aright, there was a roll of honor published at 
that time giving the names of the subscribers, and the poor 
vied with the rich and the women with the men as to which 
should outdo the other in liberality. And now, before I am 
here half a day, is an evidence of the fact that the liberal and 
generous spirit of Blairsville' s citizens has kept pace with her 
material growth and prosperity. 

I had just about finished my reflections when Wehrle, point- 
ing across the street, said : "There's the Courier building, and, 
as you are acquainted with the management and as it's just 
about time for them to run off their last edition, suppose we 



14 

drop in and say ' howdy ' and take a look around and maybe 
to-morrow they'll mention this late arrival from Samoa." 

So, stopping the carriage, we jumped out in front of another 
"sky-scraper," and fighting our way throught a crowd of two 
or three hundred newsboys, who were awaiting the coming out 
of the paper, we entered the hallway and, taking an elevator, 
were rapidly lifted to the seventeenth story, where the editorial 
offices were located, and in a minute afterward were shaking 
hands with the editor and founder, John D. Berry. Under his 
guidance we made a tour of the establishment from the edi- 
torial sanctum, where a dozen brainy men and able writers fur- 
nished the matter for the ten pages that made up the daily issue 
of the Courier, to the business office, where twenty clerks were 
busy at their work ; then on to the composing rooms, where 
two score compositors were standing at their cases. The next 
was to the stereotyping department, where the plates are 
made that go upon the presses, and then finally to the press 
rooms, where six immense Hoe perfecting presses stood ready 
to send forth with lightning speed their thousands of ten-page 
Couriers, pasted and folded for the carriers. It was a wonder- 
ful outfit, and, oh, how different from the little baby Courier 
I had left behind me a quarter of a century before! Now it 
had a circulation of a hundred thousand, then the one one- 
hundredth part ; then two men edited, read proofs, collected, 
solicited, reported news and kept the books, in fact did all the 
work ; now it takes fifty, and so on in that proportion all 
through. It would take more time and space than is at my dis- 
posal to tell of the details of management and the principal fac- 
tors that assisted in placing the Courier among the leading 
journals of the country. Perhaps the most important one was 
the fact that its policy had ever been from the day it was first 
founded to the present to be fearless in its criticisms of matters 
affecting the general welfare of the community and the people 
in general, and had always tried to be on the right side of each 
question without regard to pecuniary considerations. 

After watching the mighty presses turn out a few thousand 
Couriers, and putting one in my pocket hot from the press for 



15 

perusal while smoking my after-supper cigar, my comipanion 
and I turned to go, and as we got into the carriage, he re- 
marked : " It is now six o'clock, and as the dinner hour at the 
Conemaugh is seven, we will have to return to the hotel. To- 
morrow morning we will take a spin in another direction, and 
I can safely promise you even as great surprises on that portion 
of the trip as any that you have experienced on this." The 
dinner at the Conemaugh was equal in getting up and appoint- 
ment to any I had ever been served with at the Waldorf in 
New York or the Ponce de Leon at St. Augustine, and put me 
into first-class humor for the stroll I. afterward enjoyed along 
the boulevards and avenues under the thousands of electric 
lamps that made the whole city light as day. 



16 



CHAPTER III. 



AN HOUR OR TWO OF REMINISCENCE — A TRIP ON THE ELEC- 
TRIC BELT LINE — GRAND VIEW PARK AND ZOOLOGICAL GAR- 
DEN — BEAUTIFUL AND ENTRANCING SCENES. 

A night's rest in the luxurious couch to which Landlord Dun- 
can conducted me to in the Conemaugh, and in the morning a 
dip into the marble bath tub connected with my apartments, 
caused me to be entirely freed from the fatigue of mj^ long trip 
by rail from San Francisco which ended yesterday morning 
when I left the train at the Union Station, and also served to 
tranquilize my mind, which had been so disturbed and excited 
by the many wonderful and surpassingly beautiful things I had 
seen in the carriage drive about the city in the afternoon. A 
hearty breakfast also helped to put me in good trim for the ex- 
citing experiences that my friend Wehrle had promised me 
would be mine on the continuation of our explorations to-day. 

As I sat on one of the large verandahs in front of the hotel 
and watched the moving throngs hurrying to their labors, I 
noticed but few familiar faces, and it rather saddened me to 
think that on this ground now covered with all the splendor 
and magnificence of a metropolis there were but few, compar- 
atively, who could love it as did those whose eyes first opened 
to the light of day in its precincts, who half a century or more 
before played in childish glee upon its quiet, grass-grown 
streets, who frequented the old red brick school house that 
stood on Walnut street, who spent their spare hours in the 
shoemaker shops, little corner groceries and other favorite 
haunts, who courted their sweethearts here and took them 
walking through the green carpeted meadows and along the 
peaceful Conemaugh's shores, who slowly developed from boy- 
hood into manhood, and who then one by one passed out of 



17 

sight. Some of them to distant cities ; others to far off lands, 
and still others who were carried to the top of the hill where 
are laid away so many for whom life ended almost as soon as 
its illimitable vistas had been spread out before them. Yes, and 
sadder than all was the thought that so many of those who had 
longed and worked for the prosperity that had now so abund- 
antly come should have been called away ere even the first 
fruits of their labors had appeared. But so goes the world, and 
progress stops for none. A worker dies, another is born, and 
the laborer of to-day is succeeded by the laborer of to-morrow. 

I was just then aroused from my rather sad and sorrowful 
meditations and reveries by my friend, Wehrle, with a hearty 
" Good morning. Are you ready to start out again to see a few 
more of the many things that I know you want to see?" Of 
course I was all eagerness and replied heartily that I considered 
every minute wasted that was not devoted to sight-seeing and 
ascertaining by personal observation how true and correct 
were the reports that had, during my absence, been given me 
by my correspondents and the Courier as to the great improve- 
ments that had taken place. 

"We'll dispense with the carriage this morning," said 
Richard, "and this time use an electric car and go out into the 
suburbs for a little spin. I would suggest, as the best thing to 
do to give you a general idea of the extent of the city and its 
surroundings, that we take a car on the Belt Line, which almost 
encircles the cit3\ This electric line runs from where the old 
diamond used to be, out through what was formerly known as 
Cokeville to what you know better as Blairsville Intersection, 
but which is now Fifty-third street station ; from thence it 
crosses the river on a magnificent suspension bridge, passing 
through the old Stouflfer farm, then out the old pike on to 
Blacklick, and from there down by Campbell's mill and along 
Blacklick creek to where McCormick's bridge used to span the 
creek, and then in past the Hodge farm and along the road. I 
use the old names so that you may know the route, but the 
names, like the spots they designate, have under gone a won- 
derful transformation. Cokeville now is simply Blairsville ; 



the Stouffer farm is a farm no longer ; every inch of it is covered 
with mills, factories and farnaces, and so with all the territory- 
adjacent to it, but there is little use in describing it. You will 
soon see for yourself. Here comes a car now, that yellow one 
there, so make haste to get on board, for they run on a regular 
schedule and wont wait long." We boarded a very handsome 
car, one, too, about twice as large as the ones that were in use 
before I left the States, and soon were going along at a lively 
rate. Cokeville's location I knew simply and only by the fact 
that we had crossed the river. "What's become of the coke 
ovens that used to be out here?" I asked. Wehrle laughed a 
minute and then said : " When coal plays out you have to draw 
the fire from the ovens, and that's what happened here. The 
Isabella Company, though, made a thousand times more money 
in dividing their land up into lots than they ever did in making 
coke. Lots a hundred feet deep over here are worth at least a 
hundred dollars a front foot, and those exceptionally located 
much more." 

As we went speeding along we now entered what was more 
of a manufacturing section, and one of the things that particu- 
larly attracted my attention was a huge factory that was let- 
tered all over with immense signs reading, "Miller's Panacea," 
and as I looked at it I remembered that all the way between 
San Francisco and Blairsville I had noticed enormous sign 
boards at intervals of a few miles along the railroad on which 
the same legend was pointed. Wehrle, noting that I seemed 
interested, said : "That's another concern owned and operated 
by one of your old friends. Milt G. Miller. One day while ex- 
perimenting in his little drug store he, by accident rather than 
design, made a combination of drugs and chemicals that struck 
him was not only unique, but also just the thing for the 
cure of certain diseases. He gave it a practical test, and it 
surpassed his wildest expectations. He started to make it 
for sale, and also advertised it in a small way, and rapidly his 
business grew. You see the extent of the factory, so you will 
not be surprised when I tell you that his trade on it is so large 
that he is justified in spending a million a year on advertising 



19 

alone. He ships it to all parts of the world, and uses so many 
bottles in his business that he runs his own glass factories. Of 
course he's made money, but he has also made good use of it. 
One of his most magnificent gifts being half a million to the 
hospital that Dr. Klingensmith was talking of establishing 
about the time you left, and which we will see later." 

Just after passing Miller's establishment another immense 
structure was visible, and the sign on it told me who was the 
presiding genius, " The Kier Shoe Manufacturing Company, 
in letters ten feet high, told the story as plainly as need be. 
This was, no doubt, D. M. Kier, who formerly ran a retail 
shoe store on old Market street. "There," said Wehrle, as he 
pointed it out, "is another illustration of the fact that you 
can't keep a Blairsville boy down in any other way than by 
hitting him on the head with an axe and then covering him up 
with six feet of earth. That man Kier is simply a hustler. He 
started in the manufacturing, or rather repairing, line with one 
man, John Doran, you used to call him Santa Anna, I believe, 
and now he runs a thousand men, maybe it's two thousand, but 
ten hundred more or less makes but little difference in the Blairs- 
ville of to-day, where we deal with nothing but large figures." 
Scores upon scores of other manufacturing establishments were 
then passed in quick succession, the names of the owners all 
being strange to me. 

In a few minutes more we entered a park-like region, and as 
I gazed about on this beautiful scene that, lovely by nature, had 
a beauty enhanced a thousand fold by all the arts of the land- 
scape gardener's profession, it seemed to me that here and there 
I could see familiar traces. "You surely ought to know this 
place if you are to recognize anything about here at all," said 
my guide, as he looked quizzically at me to see if he could 
detect whether memory was strong enough to bring to mind a 
definite recollection of a spot I had, no doubt, in my earlier days 
traveled hundreds of thnes. " Ah, yes I have it!" I at last ex- 
claimed, "we are near Blacklick, just south of it by a mile or 
so." "Right you are," said Wehrle, "you guessed it the first 
time, and please to recollect that you must not say Blacklick, 



20 

for Blacklick is no more. It's all Blairsville now, and if people 
hear you talking about Cokeville, Blacklick, Snyder's Station, 
and so on, they'll think that either you're an escaped lunatic or 
else a modern Rip Van Winkle." " The latter charge is near 
the truth, my noble duke," I made answer, " for though I have 
not been asleep, yet I have had all these things hidden from 
my sight for a quarter of a century, and these old names are 
as dear to me as the old friends whom for so long a time I have 
not seen. But what means this ? I see here beautiful wind- 
ing drives, cool and inviting grottoes, marble monuments, 
magnificent groves, spraying, splashing fountains, silvery lake- 
lets on whose placid bosoms white swans float and rest, a lawn 
as green as any in Emerald's Isle, exquisite summer houses and 
pavilions, in short, I see a fair representation of New York's 
Central Park." 

"That's just what you see," rejoined my friend, "only in- 
stead of its being New York's Central Park, it's Blairsville' s 
Grandview Park and Zoological Garden. The collection of 
animals is one of the most superb in the world. You can see 
everything from a ground squirrel to the monster elephant 
that George W. Crede, Jr., presented some few years ago. 
Barnum's menagerie can't touch it, and I doubt if the famous 
Thier Garten in Berlin has any better collection of specimens 
of the animal kingdom than are to be found here." 

I didn't doubt his word for, as he was speaking, we were 
being whirled by the beautiful buildings in which the collection 
was housed. Over there in the distance was a deer park, in 
which a herd of those beautiful creatures were grazing, and 
down there in the hollow I saw an immense bear pit, where a 
score or more of shaggy representatives of Mr. Bruin and his 
family were growling. 

And as I saw the troops of children wandering up and down 
I turned to my friend and said : "You have shown me before 
we reached this spot where millions of money were invested 
that yielded as return dollar for dollar and still more dollars, 
but so far this is the most profitable investment that Blairsville 
and its people have made of any that I have so far seen." 



21 



CHAPTER IV. 



MAGNIFICENT SOLDIER'S MONUMENT — BLAIRSVILLE ARTISTS THE 
DESIGNERS — GENERAL HOSPITAL, FOUNDED BY DR. KLINGEN- 
SMITH — BLAIRSVILLE BALL CLUB IN THE NATIONAL LEAGUE. 

TliG zoological portion of the park was just fading into the 
distance when a magnificent monument that stood upon con- 
siderable of a natural elevation burst upon my view. Its situ- 
ation was a most commanding one, and the contrast between the 
whiteness of the Carrara marble of which it was made and the 
living green of the trees and grass and the gorgeously colored 
flowers that surrounded it on all sides, was indescribably beau- 
tiful, and made one of the most attractive pictures I had yet 
seen in this most beautiful city so full of man's most skillful 
and artistic handiwork. 

"That," said I, "commemorates some martial event, I sup- 
pose, for, if my eyes do not deceive me, I believe that on the 
top of the shaft I see a heroic figure of a United States soldier 
carved in marble." "Yes," replied Wehrle, "that monument 
was erected by the ladies of Blairsville in honor of the soldiers 
that fought in the war of 1861 to 1865. Some of the ladies 
prominent in the movement being ones whom you will know 
better by their old names than the ones they are known by 
now, namely, the Misses Delia Watson, Millie Stouffer, Mary 
Shepley, Helen Cunningham, and a great many others who are 
equally worthy of mention. The thought that such a memorial 
would not only be a fitting tribute to the deeds of valor, the 
self-sacrifice and the great patriotism displayed by Blairsville' s 
sons in that fearful struggle, of which there are now so few 
survivors left, but also an illustration of what women can ac- 
complish, came to them like an inspiration, and, following the 
example set them by their fathers, husbands and sweethearts. 



who never let the grass grow under their feet when work is to 
be done, they immediately set about the labor of procuring the 
money to erect a monument that should be equal in beauty of 
design and finish to any, and to make it all the more note- 
worthy they determined that all of the work on it should be 
done by women as far as it was possible. 

"It took a year or more to get the money. How did they 
do it ? Well, just as women always do when they set about 
raising the wind. They went to work first and solicited — not 
from men, remember — but from women. The bulk of the one 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars was raised in this way, 
among the contributions being some large ones. The Misses 
Martha Sloan, Sallie Gray, Mrs. Kate Cunningham, and a num- 
ber of others were handsome givers. Then they formed ' Monu- 
ment Societies ' and made by their own hands useful and orna- 
mental articles that they sold at bazaars and fairs. The shop 
girls of the city gave for a year each week a certain sum out 
of their wages, and so in a thousand different ways they 
gathered together this immense sum. But the thing they are 
the proudest of is that the design is that of a woman, and that 
women with their weak hands and weaker arms carved from 
the marble, not only the scenes and ornaments that in bas re- 
lief adorn the shaft, but also the five heroic figures that you 
see. 

" You may recollect that she who was Miss Ella Ray in early 
youth had exhibited considerable artistic talent, and when de- 
signs were asked for from women only she submitted one, which 
was accepted. Some years before that Miss Millie Stitt, who 
had shown much aptitude in modelling in clay, had gone to 
Rome to study sculpture, where she achieved the most wonder- 
ful success and a reputation in every art circle in the world. 
To her was given the commission for executing the work, and 
how she did it you can judge either for yourself by actual ob- 
servation or by obtaining the opinions of the foremost art 
critics of the world. 

"The monument, as you see, is devoted entirely to episodes 
in the career of the American Volunteer. On one corner of 



23 

the pedestal is a figure representing him bidding farewell to his 
family after he has determined to obey his country's call. On 
the corner to the left of that he is seen marching to the front. 
On another corner he is engaged in giving battle to the enemy, 
while on the fourth corner he lies dead and bleeding on the 
field, a willing sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. The heroic 
figure upon the top of the shaft is the ideal American Volun- 
teer, and is said by those competent to judge to be the most 
realistic exponent of the ideal American that has yet been 
evolved from the brain or inspiration of the many artists that 
have made the attempt. 

"On the side of the shaft are scenes in relief from noted 
battles such as Gettysburg, Chicamauga, Lookout Mountain 
and others." 

Wehrle's description of this most beautiful and impressive 
work of art and the mode of its erection had so impressed me 
that I determined that at no late day I would come out for a 
closer inspection than could be given it from a flying electric 
car. 

I had hardly time to take in the full significance of the won- 
derful results that had been accomplished by the women's 
united and persevering work, when Wehrle called my atten- 
tion to a large and chaste white building standing in the midst 
of beautiful and extensive grounds. The structure was made 
up of a large main building that had wards or wings extending 
out from each side. Wide and cool-looking verandahs encir- 
cled it on all sides, and there was such a calm, quiet and peace- 
ful air about it that to gaze at it was really restful. 

"There," said my guide, "is another evidence of the fact 
that in the mad rush for gain, the fight for place and power, and 
the struggle to satisfy ambition's cravings we have not neg- 
lected the better part of our natures. That building is as much 
of a monument as the marble pile we have just left behind. A 
monument to Charity, to Loving Kindness, to Love and all the 
other Christian Graces. That is the Blairsville General Hos- 
pital, and has been evolved from the small one that Dr. I. P. 
Klingensmith established in 1896! To his labor is due much of 



24 

the credit for our now possessing what is universally conceded 
to be the finest hospital in the State. Of course the money that 
erected it, and that now supports it, came from a hundred dif- 
ferent sources, but Dr. Klingensmith, who is still in general 
charge and chief of staff, is the originator and has given it the 
best years of his life. 

"Within its hospitable walls a thousand patients can find 
room and the best attention that the best medical skill can give 
them. One of its chief beauties is that it is a place where all 
can receive the ministrations of the nurse and healer. Rich 
and poor, black and white, Jew and Gentile, high and low, 
young and old, all are alike when they reach its portals that 
are always standing open. But one question is asked, and that 
is. ' Are you a sufferer ? ' and the answer ' yes ' is an open 
sesame. Every remedy that is known to the dispensatory, and 
every appliance that the surgeon's art has discovered or in- 
vented is to be found within its walls. It has its fever wards, 
incurable wards, surgical rooms and all else that is necessary 
in richest profusion. Away in the rear of the grounds is the 
building where small-pox patient and those suffering with other 
malignant diseases are taken, but the attention they receive is 
precisely similar to that given those in the main building. 
Some of our old physicians are closely connected with this in- 
stitute. Dr. W. R. Miller supervising the surgical department. 
Dr. L. S. Clagett the incurables, Dr. A. T. Rutledge and Dr. 
VanTrees the patients in the fever wards, and then there are, 
oi course, a host of physicians of whom you have never heard. 

" As the hospital grew a medical college was one of the fruits 
that naturally followed, and that is it that you see to the right 
there. I am told that it has five hundred or more students 
from all parts of the country, and I suppose it will interest you 
to know that several of your old friends are quite prominent in 
the conduct of its affairs. Dr. J. L. Harding is professor of 
anatomy. Dr. J. B. Carson of physiology, while Dr. R. B. Cum- 
mins is in charge of the dental department. 

• "Oh, by the way," Wehrle continued, "when speaking of 
the hospital I forgot to say that the liberalitj'- of Mr. Samuel 



25 

Ray and Captain George Wilkinson, who years ago made some 
very heavy donations to the hospital fund, is largely responsi- 
ble for the flourishing condition in which you see it to-day." 

I grew prouder and prouder of Blairsville every minute of 
my stay, and why should I not be proud ? for the solid portion 
of this wonderful city was the v/ork of its sons. It was Blairs- 
villians to the manor born who began the movement to lift 
their town to the pinnacle they believed it deserved, and it was 
Blairsville people mainly who kept it there. I was feeling 
prouder and prouder ever 3^ minute until, perhaps, had I not 
had my thoughts directed into another channel, the fate of the 
swelling frog would have been mine, when all at once loud and 
prolonged cheering broke upon my ears, and when I turned to 
see where it came from and who produced it, my eyes rested 
upon an extensive base ball park in which a game between two 
base ball nines was going on and that was being watched by 
ten thousand spectators. They were making vociferous and 
vigorous comment upon it as it progressed. 

"What clubs are those playing?" I asked of Dick. 

"That's a tussle between the Boston and Blairsville League 
teams. Yes, Blairsville is now in the League," he went on, 
"and she's in second place, too, and I'll just bet you ten to five 
she'll win the pennant," he excitedly went on as the base ball 
fever seized him. 

" Hold on there, you crank ! " I retorted, " you can't get any 
soft thing on me, for I have enough faith in Blairsville to be- 
lieve that if she wants that precious pennant she's going to get 
it, and that's all there is to it. But come, tell me a little about 
the club — is there any one connected with it that I know?" 

" Let me see," mused Dick, " O, yes there is. Why, of course, 
there is. You recollect Billy Kilgore, the red-headed devil of 
the Courier twenty-five years ago? Well, he's the manager. 
And then I believe some of the Courier's old newsboys are 
among the crack plaj^ers. Yes, there's Dave Stanley, he's their 
boss pitcher, and Glynn Samuels is the first baseman ; Ed. 
Bouchier holds down the bag at second, while Stewart Myers 
is short-stop." 



26 

When I heard these names mentioned I felt as though I mast 
go out and see them, but was stopped by Wehrle telling me 
that he had laid out a visit to the ball park as part of to-mor- 
row's program and that I would then have ample opportunity 
of seeing all about base ball that I desired. 

The old-time enthusiasm was evidently not lacking, for as 
we sped along I could hear from the bleachers, "Strike him 
out, Dave," "Hit him on the nose," "Knock 'er out of sight," 
and scores of expressions that were once so familiar to me when 
thirty or more years before I attended the games in the old 
rciilroad company's field. 

After a few minutes had passed we neared Blacklick Creek 
again, at the spot where Campbell's mill dam used to be. And 
where the old iron bridge once spanned the creek there was a 
most magnificent boulevard came in that extended from the 
center of the city out what was formerly known as the Indiana 
road ; on by Smith's Station, out across the creek at the old 
mill site and then extending down the creek as far as where 
McCormick's bridge stood a quarter of a century ago. The 
boulevard was paved with asphalt in the roadway and the side- 
walks were made of a material known as granolithic ; it was a 
hundred feet wide, and a double row of magnificent elms and 
Norway maples lined either side. Perhaps the most beautiful 
thing about it was that right in the center ran a beautifal and 
sparkling stream of water that glittered in the sunlight like a 
broad ribbon of diamonds. 

The boulevard was sacred to the use of lighter vehicles, and 
no heavy wagons or drays were permitted upon it, neither was 
it marred by car tracks. It was the favorite drive in the city, 
and as I gazed out upon it from the car that ran upon one side, 
I saw scores upon scores of beautiful turnouts speeding along. 
"Look, quick !" said Dick suddenly, "there goes Ed. Graff' in 
that stylish English mail cart to which that fast pair of bays is 
hitched, with a tiger sitting on the rear seat. Ed. is one of the 
nabobs now. Wbat made him that? you ask. Oh, a number 
of things, but principally tin plate. When the Blairsville Roll- 
ing Mill and Tin Plate Company was reorganized, just about 



27 

the time ycm left, Ed. went into the company. His fine busi- 
ness ability here had full sway, and he made the mill hum- 
That' s a big concern now ; they have twenty-two sheet mills ; 
make their own steel, roll it into bars and have one of the big- 
gest tin houses in the world. And, do you know, that Blairs. 
ville is often called the ' Tin Plate City ? ' Well, it is, and it 
deserves the title, lor sixty per cent, of the tin plate manufac- 
tured in the United States is made right here. There were 
several things that brought this about. One was that the com- 
position of the Conemaugh River water was such as to make it 
especially good for use in the manufacture of tin plats, and 
another because one of your old chums, Elmer H. Harn, while 
prospecting on Chestnut ridge one day, discovered a very ex- 
tensive and rich deposit of tin ore. He quietly bought up the 
land on which the vein was located, interested some capitalists 
in developing it, and now Harn can gratify his 'collecting' 
hobby just as much as he may please. That he has done so to 
a considerable extent I can bear witness, for out at his resi- 
dence on the boulevard leading to Oakes' Point, I have seen 
the most magnificent collection of minerals and shells that I 
ever laid eyes on and that must have cost him thousands upon 
thousands of dollars." 

Nothing that I had heard pleased me more than that my old 
friend should have had such good fortune and been able to put 
his knowledge of mineralogy to such good use. 



28 



CHAPTER V. 



GENERAL J. P. KENNEDY AND THE NATIONAL GUARD — J. A. 
SRP AND HIS WONDERFUL ORCHESTRA— OTHER CITIZENS WHO 
HAVE ACHIEVED DISTINCTION. 

As our electric car went speeding merrily alongside the 
magnificent boulevard, I had a most excellent opportunity to 
see the wealth and fashion of the city pass in swift review. To 
the right were many of the public institutions of the city, 
while to the left of us the roadway was crowded with carriages, 
landaus, drags, mail phaetons and t allyhos, each vehicle con- 
taining representatives of the wealth, the brains and the fash- 
ionable society of Blairsville. It was the city's four hundred 
on dress parade, and I could see in a few minutes what might 
otherwise have taken many weeks and even months to come 
within the range of my observation. Many, in fact nearly all, 
of this gay and moving throng were entirely unknown to me, 
but every once in a while my guide mentioned some familiar 
name or pointed out some one whom twenty-five years before 
in those quiet old days I had well known. 

"Do you see that military looking gentleman with the heavy 
white mustache riding that beautiful and spirited black horse ?" 
asked Wehrle, as he pointed out a gentleman whose face seemed 
quite familiar to me. "That," he continued, "is General J. 
P. Kennedy. When you were last in these parts he was a 
major of the Fifth Regiment, N. G. P. You recollect him, don't 
you ? for I believe he and you were quite good friends before 
you went to Samoa. He has climbed up considerably since you 
left, being now in command of the entire division of the State 
militia. And, by the way, he has charge of a large body, for 
the division now numbers fifty thousand men and has the repu- 
tation of being the finest militarj^ body in the world. Major 



29 

Kennedy commenced winning his spurs in 1894, when the An- 
archists in Chicago attempted a revolution. The force of 
United States troops not being large enough to cope with the 
rebels, the President called on the Pennsylvania troops and 
they did most effective work. After that campaign, in recog- 
nition of his meritorious services, Major Kennedy was made a 
brigadier general and finally he was appointed to the chief 
command of the division." 

I recollected that we used to be quite proud of our Company 
D in that time so long ago, and I thought that if the city's pride 
in its soldier boys had increased in the same proportion that 
the guard had increased, not only throughout the State but 
more particularly in Blairsville, why then it was likely that the 
local military could own the city and all there was in it if they 
would but ask for it, for Wehrle went on to tell me that instead 
of the little company of a quarter of a century ago they now 
maintained three regiments. 

"Yes, sir," he went on, "we have three of the crack regi- 
ments of the State, and we have also as fine an armory and 
drill and parade grounds as you'll find anywhere. Right over 
there," pointing to the other side of the creek from which we 
were on, "you will see the armory building and grounds." 

I looked in the direction indicated and saw an immense. two- 
story square building that covered five or six acres of ground, 
and about it, just as level as a floor, were perhaps two hundred 
acres that were used as drill and parade grounds. ' ' Old Glory' 
was flying from a hundred flag staffs, batteries of artillery were 
planted at several places and a decided military air hung over 
the whole place. 

"I see," I commented, "that you have neglected nothing in 
this most wonderful town, and that you have made marvelous 
progress along all lines. While cultivating the arts of peace 
you have not forgotten that sterner art, the practice of which 
is sometimes necessary if one would preserve what has been 
accomplished in times of peace." 

Our flying car had by this time left General Kennedy away 
in the rear, and as I looked out at the never ending procession 



30 

that filled the boulevard, Dick pointed out in quick succession 
quite a number of others whom I had formerly known and who 
were now conspicuous in some way or another. Among them 
was Howard P. Shepley, who, I was told, had long since given 
up the retail drug store tliat had been such a favorite lounging 
place of mine before I had said farewell to Blairsville, and was 
now the president and largest owner of the Shepley Chemical 
Company, a concern that was engaged in the manufacture of 
the various fluid extracts, tinctures, pills, plasters and other 
similar articles sold in drug stores. "Their establishment is a 
mighty big one," said Wehrle, "and when you see it you'll be 
as much surprised at its extent as you have been at some of 
the other things you have seen and heard. Their factory is out 
at Fifty-third street and covers a whole block. It is eleven 
stories high, and every floor is filled with scores a,nd scores of 
busy workers. I suppose they employ over a thousand per- 
sons, and they turn out pills by the car-load and plasters by 
the mile." 

I looked at Shepley as he rolled along in a handsome carriage 
drawn by a fine pair of sleek and v/ell-fed grays, driven by a 
coachman in full regalia, with even a "bug" on his hat, and 
noted that he was in appearance just about the same as when I 
had said good-bye to him so long ago. Of course his hair and 
beard were whiter, but there seemed to be just as much ner- 
vous energy about him as ever, and I would have known him 
among ten thousand. 

The next person to whom my attention was turned by my 
friend w^as a portly gentlemen, who was also reclining at ease 
in a handsome carriage. "That," said he, "is Joseph A. Srp, 
who is the leader and director of as fine an orchestra as any 
the world can boast of, and Srp has the reputation of being the 
equal of the dead and gone Theodore Thomas in his direction 
of an orchestra. It's impossible to describe the music they 
make, so I will not attempt it, but as they will give a concert 
in the music hall in the Chapman Library building to-night, 
we'll go so that you may have an opportunity of judging for 
yourself as to the sweetness and beaut}^ of the ' concourse of 



ol 

sweet sounds ' that this company of artists can produce." The 
term "Chapman Library" used by Wehrle in speaking of 
where the concert was to be aroused my curiosity, and I asked 
him what it meant. 

" That," he rephed, " is a monument that another of your old 
friends has erected to himself while yet living. It's no less a 
person than W. L. Chapman ; it used to be that some called 
him 'Bert,' others preferred 'Billy,' while a great many evi- 
dently labored under the impression that his name was too long 
and cut it down to 'Chap.' Well, 'Chap' made his pile, you 
know, and having made it determined that the community 
generally should share it with him, so he followed Andrew Car- 
negie's example and stuck a million and a half into a library 
and suitable building. It's right along the line of this road and 
we'll see it when we get to where the Hodge farm used to be. 
How did Chapman make his money, you ask ? In wheat ; you 
know he was in the flour and feed trade when you were here, 
and that's were he got his start, but it seemed as though he 
wasn't making money fast enough to suit him, so when the 
Grain Exchange was opened he commenced taking a little flyer 
in wheat every once in awhile, and had such good luck that he 
finally sold out his business and gave his whole time and atten- 
tion to the grain market. His good fortune kept up right 
straight along, and it wasn't a great while before the whole 
country was astounded to learn that ' Chap ' had cornered the 
wheat market just as Partridge and old Hutchison used to do. 
In that one transaction it is said that he made a couple of mil- 
lions. He's retired now and don't do anything but amuse him- 
self in any way that his fancy may dictate." 

It was certainly most remarkable how uniformly successful 
Blairsvillians had been. Had I read such tales as had been told 
me, and had seen described in a novel the wonderful things 
that my own eyes had gazed upon, I would have thought that 
such conditions could only be evolved from the fertile brain 
and vivid imagination of a novelist and that real life could not 
possibly furnish a parallel, but here I was forced to believe, for 
the evidence was so plentiful, so tangible and came crowding 



32 

in on me so thick and fast that I was obliged to believe that a 
whole community had suddenly discovered the secret and 
power held by Midas of old and, like him, could convert into 
gold whatever they touched. 

While I was indulging in these reflections the river came in 
sight, and its bosom was filled with steamers and tugs that 
went puffing up and down. Right in front of us was a large 
fleet of loaded coal barges being pushed to New Orleans by a 
powerful boat, and coming around the bend behind us was a 
big steamer that my friend told me was the General Harry 
White, just coming up from Memphis. 

On the wharves all was bustle and confusion. Hundreds, 
yes thousands, of wagons and drays were bringing freight to 
the boats lying there or hauling it away to the immense ware- 
houses that loomed up wherever the eye rested. We were now 
right in the center of the commercial district, and I had a most 
excellent opportunity of seeing just how great and immense 
was the trade that Blairsville enjoyed. 

"These goods that you see going out," said Wehrle, "are 
bound for all parts of the world. There isn't a country on the 
face of the globe that we don't send our products to, and the 
name of our city is as well known in Africa and other far ofif 
lands as it is in the United States." 

I readily believed this, for in Samoa, during my long resi- 
dence there, I had seen many of Blairsville' s products. I had 
slept in a building roofed with Blairsville tin, dined at a table 
on which rested Blairsville china, and when sick had had pre- 
scribed for me drugs and chemicals, the labels on which told 
where they had been manufactured. 

After passing through six or eight blocks the car turned up 
Grand avenue and in a few minutes we were back at the Cone- 
maugh, where we had started from, 

"After lunch," said Dick, "we'll take another ride. This 
time we'll take the Burrell and Oakes' Point Line and go up to 
Oakes' Point and see the wonderful improvements that have 
been made there." 



33 



CHAPTER VI. 



THE WORKINGMAN IS THE CREATOR OF THESE WONDERS- 
WONDERFUL TRANSFORMATION OF OAKES' POINT — A RESORT 
FOR BEAUTY, WEALTH AND FASHION. 

After an elegant lunch at the Conemaugh, it ought almost be 
called a dinner, I strolled out to the front of the hotel and stood 
there for a few moments watching the coming and going of the 
countless throng passing up and down Grand avenue. In the 
morning I had seen on the boulevard the wealth and fashion of 
the city on dress parade as they went out for an airing, and 
here on this thoroughfare I saw a mighty procession of the 
muscle, the brawn, the bone and sinew of the city as, at what 
was for them the dinner hour, they went to or returned from 
the scene of their labors. And as I gazed upon the army of 
toilers with their set and determined countenances and their 
firm and steady step ; noted the briskness of their movement 
and the intelligent expression upon their faces, I realized more 
than I had ever done before that, after all, it is the man with 
the dinner bucket who is king. He it is who builds ; he it is 
who called into life and being the magnificent creations that 
reared their proud heads on every hand. The men wdth the 
saw, the hammer and the plane ; those who fashioned the iron 
at the forges, who shaped it at the rolls ; the ones who by the 
magic deftness of their skill called into being that most beauti- 
ful of all of man's products, glass ; the cunning carvers of stone 
and workers of brass ; all who toiled and labored in shop, in 
factory or in mine were really the ones who made this magnifi- 
cent city upon whose many beauties my eyes had feasted until 
they were almost surfeited with visions of magnificence, ele- 
gance, beauty, splendor and all other conditions that appeal to 
the sense ol sight and that impress the mind as being above 



34 

the ordinary. Yes, I thought, it is the workingman ; not he 
who lolls at ease in carriages, who has a hundred to wait upon 
him and bring and fetch and carry ; not the one who reaps the 
major benefits of a community's combined labor that I should 
apostrophize and praise when I sign the praise of this city, that 
is so worthy to be the theme and inspiration of the poet or the 
subject for a discourse by the great masters of the English 
tongue. Money has done much, but labor, which first made 
values, and therefore made money possible, is the hero of not 
only this twentieth century but of all the others that have pre- 
ceded it. These men with the soot and smoke of the furnaces 
and mills upon their faces are the representatives of that which 
did it all, and these men of many millions whom I saw this 
morning are but holding in trust for a common humanity the 
values that the man with the dinner bucket has created. 

My mind was running along in this direction when a tap upon 
my shoulder aroused me, and when I turned there stood Wehrle 
again, apparently ready for the trip to Oakes' Point. When 
this expedition had been first suggested this morning, I natur- 
ally thought of the old-fashioned modes of transportation that 
were called into requisition ever so many years ago when half 
a dozen or so of us would invite our best girls, hire a big spring 
wagon with a stout team, pack in an able-bodied lunch and then 
start on a three hours' drive over rough roads, up steep hills 
and down into valleys, and with maybe a walk up some extra 
heavy grade ; and when we finally reached the spot we drank 
in the beauties of the grand panorama that lay spread out at 
our feet, we first congratulated each other upon the fact that 
the trip had been made without accident. 

Now how different ! We had simply to hail one of these 
swiftly moving electric cars that were passing every minute, 
step on board, sink back into a softly cushioned seat, hand the 
conductor a dime, and in half an hour we are there. That's 
just what we did, and in a minute we were speeding up Grand 
avenue ; on past the busy stores, the banks where transactions 
that ran into the hundreds of thousands and millions were of 
daily, yes, almost hourly occurrence ; the offices where the 



36 

affairs of immense corporations were handled, and on and on, 
past block after block of stately edifices, each one the home of 
some huge industrial concern that made Blairsville its home. 

Could it be possible that this was the old turnpike leading out 
toward Armagh ? Is it within the range of human possibility 
that on this brick, and iron, and glass, and steel, and granite 
burdened earth the green grass once grew, that here the ripened 
grain fell beneath the sharp blades of the reaper, and that on 
these hills once grazed herds of cattle with nothing to disturb 
them save the occasional rattle of a wagon as it to or came from 
the sleepy, quiet little town that lay hidden by the hill ? Yes, 
it is, for there to the right is the immense plant of the Cone- 
maugh Iron, Steel and Tin Company, located on the Stouffer 
farm by the Blairsville Development Company in the summer 
of 1894. What an enormous establishment it is ! 

Look at that stately row of furnaces lining the river bank. 
They stand there like mighty living giants whose food is fire 
and who sup off iron and coal. See the mills with their mighty 
machinery ; listen to the labored straining of the engines and 
gaze upon the thousands of men as they with their arms and 
hands, puny by contrast, control the enormous forces gener- 
ated by the many batteries of boilers that supply the power to 
move this bewildering mass of whirling machinery ! We can 
not stop long enough to take in all its cyclopean greatness, for 
the car speeds on and on, and soon the rattle and roar is left 
behind and the trolley line begins to climb the ascent leading 
to the famous point. Now the beautiful buildings with which 
the entire summit is almost covered are plainly visible, and, as 
a nearer approach reveals their beauties to my astonished \ ision, 
I do not wonder that this summer resort has become the Mecca 
of the health and pleasure-seeking ones of the world. 

As we went along Wehrle told me of what was the cause of 
this most wonderful evolution. It seems that some twelve or 
fifteen years before the French government had sent some rep- 
resentatives to Blairsville to inspect and report upon some 
armor plate that was being made for France by the Carnegie 
Company, which, as I noted in a former chapter, was located 



36 

at Blairsville. While these gentlemen, among whom was the 
Due d' Orleans, were here they were the recipients of a great 
many attentions at the hands of the citizens, and were one day 
taken to Oakes' Point, which still stood there in all its bare and 
rugged majesty. When they had gazed upon the splendid mag- 
nificence of the scene, rinsed their lungs with the air that is 
nowhere so fresh as there, and had taken in the splendors of the 
awe-inspiring view from Cedar Rock, they asked why in the 
name of anything, everything and all other things, was not 
this spot utilized as a pleasure resort. Upon being told that 
Blairsville people were too busy making iron, steel, glass and 
tin plate and building sky-scraping structures to think of that 
which had no other end and aim than to gratify the desire for 
pleasure, they replied that could the land be bought they could 
and would interest Paris capital in making out of Oakes' Point 
a most formidable rival to the most splendid resorts of the old 
world. 

They had Berlin take numerous photographs of the most 
attractive and beautiful spots of all that region ; carried them 
back to Paris and in a week after their arrival there had formed 
the Franco-American Resort Company, with a capital of fifty 
million francs. They bought up the Point, and perhaps two or 
three thousand acres about it, and soon an army of laborers 
was at work constructing roads, cleaning out the forest, making 
winding drives, building electric roads, erecting the immense 
hotel and other buildings that were necessary to carry out their 
plans. The task was a herculean one, and two years of hard 
and faithful work were spent before a guest could be enter- 
tained, but at last a day came when all was in readiness, and 
on July 1, 1907, there gathered in response to invitations to 
attend the opening of the resort the most brilliant assemblage 
that has ever been seen on the American continent. All the 
foreign ambassadors and ministers, with their suites, were 
present, and not a distinguished American but was there to 
witness this throwing open to the world of what has never been 
equalled in this or any other land in the shape of a temple 
where the Goddess of Pleasure holds sway. All the courts of 



37 

Europe were represented, and the gay uniforms of the diplo- 
mats and the military officers, the irreproachable attire of the 
civilian in full dress regalia, the beautiful toilets and sparkling 
diamonds of the ladies, together with the splendid decorations 
of both the exterior and interior, made a picture that reminded 
one of the scenes of the Second Empire in France. But why 
dwell longer on what happened so long ago ? In this year of 
our Lord 1919 we dwell in the present and have no time to 
linger with the past, and I will, therefore, give a brief descrip- 
tion of but a few of the thousand wonders that are to be seen 
here. 

The hotel, which fronted six hundred and fifty feet on the 
brow of the hill, was six stories in height and was built of 
Chestnut ridge bluestone, trimmed with marble, granite and 
various other colored building stones. In the center a tower 
rose two hundred and fifty feet into the air, and from its top, 
which could be reached by an electric elevator, could be ob- 
tained the most beautiful view that it is possible for the human 
mind to conceive. Let your imagination run wild and riot 
among the conceptions of what you believe Babylon of old 
with its hanging gardens and hundreds of other beautiful ex- 
travagances to have been. Conjure up the view to be had from 
the highest snow-\?lad peak of the towering Alps. Imagine the 
sweet beautj^ of the vale of Cashmere, and picture in your 
mind's eye the loveliness of the lakes of Killarney or the vale 
of Avoca. Draw upon the canvas of your mind with the pig- 
ment of your imagination the chiefest beauties of all the God 
favored spots on earth in a composite picture, and then j^ou 
have the view that is yours when you gaze from the dizzy and 
lofty height of this tower. You have before you a smiling 
river, dense forests, rippling brooks, shady nooks, sylvan dells, 
emerald green meadows, yawning chasms, towering mountains, 
lowlier hills, gardens in which the gaudy flowers of the tropics 
mingled with their more subdued floral sisters of the temperate 
zone, in short, before words fail me, you see a landscape that 
contains within its limits all that is loveliest and best, and were 
old ocean to be seen tossing his angry mane in the distance the 



38 

picture would be absolutely complete. No wonder that to this 
spot so richly favored by both art and nature come wanderers 
from every clime. No wonder that poets sing its praises in a 
thousand songs and master artists transfer to canvas its many 
wondrous beauties. 

I stood spell-bound as I drank in the rich and varied beauties 
of the picture. I might have stood there for the remainder of 
the day had not my guide brought me back to a sense of what 
I owed to one who had been so faithful in ministering to my 
pleasure by saying : "Wake up, wake up, you have looked for 
an hour, and there's too much more to see to spend any more 
time here." 

Reluctantly I stepped into the elevator and descended to the 
first floor of the hotel, where we wandered through the many 
gorgeous halls and rooms. Here was one drawing-room, the 
outfit of which alone cost a hundred thousand dollars. There 
was another which was all plate glass mirrors ; walls, ceiling, 
floor, all made of mirrors. We entered the large ball room 
where five hundred couples could at one time engage in the 
mazes of the waltz, and a royal room it was. No emperor's 
palace was ever larger or adorned with more splendid magnifi- 
cence, and through them all promenaded by the hundred mag- 
nificent women and handsome men. There' went a Russian 
prince, and the one who brushed our elbow as he passed was an 
English duke whose ancestors came to Albion's white shores 
with William, the Conqueror. That lady wearing a tiara of 
diamonds is heiress to a European throne, and by her side is 
walking the younger son of a king. 

How did these people amuse themselves? you ask. In a 
thousand different ways that the lavish use of money could 
procure or the ingenuity of man devise. There were race 
tracks where were run races that attracted greater crowds and 
created more interest than the Grand Prix at Paris or the En- 
glish Derby. There was an orchestra, each man an artist, with 
a world-wide fame. There was a theatre in which appeared 
the stars of both the old and new worlds, and an opera house 
in which the Patties of the twentieth century warbled and sang. 



39 

There were playing fountains and beautiful drives. All that 
could minister to man's pleasure was there in richest profusion. 

I was bewildered and confused, dazed and dazzled, and felt 
as though I must leave before my brain had been turned by all 
this glare and glitter, this more than Oriental splendor and 
display of boundless wealth. "Come Dick," I said, "let's go 
into town. Duncan and his Conemaugh are quite good enough 
for me." 

In half an hour we were within the hospitable precincts of 
this superb hostelry and I was leaning back in one of the 
divans in the smoking parlor attempting to restore tranquility 
of mind with the aid of a soothing and fragrant Perfect©. 



40 



CHAPTER VII. 



THE PENNSYLVANIA CONSERVATORY OP MUSIC— CONCERT BY 
WORLD-FAMED ARTISTS— WHITNEY GLASS WORKS, LARGEST 
FLINT GLASS PLANT IN THE WORLD. 

After finishing my cigar I glanced at my watch and, noting 
that it was about time to go to my apartments to prepare for 
dinner, I rather reluctantly arose from the comfortable seat 
where I had been enjoying my smoke and started in through 
the marble paved lobby of the Conemaugh to take the elevator 
for my rooms. As I passed through I stopped at the clerk's 
desk to inquire if any mail matter had been received for me, 
and in return was handed quite a bundle of papers and letters. 
When I had reached my room I glanced carelessly through 
them, not expecting to find anything particularly interesting 
or important, when I happened to be attracted by the elegance 
of an envelope that was conspicuous from the other missives 
that accompanied it by its stylish and bon-ton appearance. I 
opened it and found that it contained a personal and special 
invitation to attend a grand concert, or music recital, to be 
given that evening in the concert room of the Pennsylvania 
Conservatory of Music. Enclosed with the invitation was an 
elaborate program, the numbers on which were such as to in- 
duce almost any one who had the least love for music to set 
aside everything else for the purpose of embracing the oppor- 
tunity of listening to the first-class program that had been 
arranged. I had always been fond of music, no matter whether 
it was the popular catchy airs of the day that are as ephemeral 
as a summer cloud, or the profound and mysterious composi- 
tions of a Wagner. 

Some of my Iriends in those ante-metropolitan days of Blairs- 
ville used to say that they believed I had no appreciation for 



anything else than "White Wings," "Annie Rooney," "Boom 
Ta-ra-ra," and a few of the other melodies that were so indus- 
triously whistled by everybody and so vigorously performed 
by every street musician that happened along with a grind- 
organ, bag-pipe, accordeon or some other of the instruments 
that the sons of Italy will manipulate in return for whatever a 
distracted audience may contribute. But this was a base 
slander, and I am perfectly truthful when I say that I looked 
eagerly forward to the rich treat that I was sure would await 
me at the Conservatory that evening. 

The queer thing about it though was how I happened to get 
the invitation. The names on the invitation were not at all 
familiar to me, and I was sure that I am not so prominent a 
person as to get invitations on that account. The thought 
occurred to me that very likely Wehrle had requested the man- 
agers of the institution to send me it so that I might have an 
opportunity for inspecting the Conservatory. When we met at 
the dinner table afterwards I asked him if that did not account 
for my receiving it. 

"Not at all," he replied, "that invitation simj)iy means that 
another of your old friends has not forgotten you, and had she 
not changed her name in the same way that so many young 
ladies do you would have known who it is that so honored you. 
It is she whom you knew as Miss Sue Millhouser. This lady, 
like so many of Blairsville's sons and daughters, has climbed 
pretty well up on the ladder of fame. Indeed, she is known in 
the music world everywhere, and the fame of the Conservatory 
is not confined to the United States alone. But in a little while 
you can judge for yourself, so for the present we will confine 
our attention to this canvas-back duck that is so appetizing in 
appearance." 

The duck and the various accompaniment that were with it 
soon disappeared before the vigorous appetite created by sev- 
eral hours' inhaling of the bracing and strengthening atmos- 
phere breathed in on our afternoon's trip to Oakes'' Point, and 
we started for the Conservatory, which was located on South 
Walnut street where Johnson's grove once stood. Indeed, as 



42 

we reached the spot I noticed some large oak trees standing in 
the grounds that surrounded the building, and as I looked at 
them I wondered if these were not some of the very trees 
under whose friendly shade I had so often reclind when the 
grove was devoted to the pasturing of cattle and horses. 
Wehrle evidently divined my thoughts, for, as we walked up 
the approach, he said : "Those big oaks over there are some 
more of your old friends. They haven't changed a great deal 
since you left, have they? And, indeed, they hadn't. There 
was a little thicker girth ; the limbs were a little sturdier, and 
there was a little more moss on the massive trunks ; that was 
all the change, I was as glad to see them as I had been to see 
my other old fresh and blood friends, and I wished that I could 
have shaken hands with these sturdy old fellows who looked 
strong and vigorous enough to defy the storms and lightning 
for an indefinitely protracted time to come. 

But here we are at the open portal of the Conservatory, and 
as we enter the beautiful and spacious hall we hand our cards 
to an attendant, and in a moment afterward we were shaking 
hands with our hostess who had invited us and who is such a 
famous master of that king of musical instruments, the piano. 

We had but a few minutes in which to chat and indulge in 
reminiscences of the long ago, when our entertainer said that 
it was time for the concert to open and she would have us con- 
ducted to our seats in the concert room. A touch upon an 
electric bell brought an usher, who showed us into a room or 
hall of magnificent proportions, designed by one of the leading 
architects of the day with special care to make certain that it 
possessed perfect acoustic properties. The decorations were 
superb. In niches along the richly frescoed walls stood statues 
and busts of the famous composers and artists of the last cen- 
tury. There stood Wagner, Verdi, Listz, Beethoven and a host 
of others. On the walls were painted appropriate scenes from 
mj^thology, such as Orpheus producing the magic strains that 
moved the trees and hills and caused brutes to dance, and many 
others. The hall was filled with an audience made up of the elite 
of the city. Many had come from the great Franco- American 



43 

hotel on Oakes' Point, so that the assemblage was really a cos- 
mopolitan one, and high birth, beauty and wealth had hundreds 
of representatives. I would that I could describe the concert, 
but that is a literary impossibility. So long as written words do 
not sing, nor emit sweet and soul entrancing sounds, so long 
will it be impossible to give even a faint description by word or 
pen of the performances of a master. Of course our hostess 
played several selections, and as the music rose and fell, and 
thrilled and throbbed, I felt as did the man who wrote "How 
Ruby Played." During an intermission my companion whis- 
pered to me, "By the way, do you know that the world's 
greatest prima donna, Miss Lula Glaser, is going to sing several 
selections to-night ? " And just as he had finished she appeared 
upon the stage, and amidst the profoundest stillness that an 
assemblage of half a thousand persons are capable of observing 
the great diva, fit successor to Jenny Lind and Adelina Patti, 
broke forth in song. As with the instrumental music, so with 
this. The sweet notes, the silvery chimes, the pathos, the 
mirth, the music of that marvelous voice must be heard, and 
the pen can no more do justice to it than it can to the other. 

As I gazed at the songstress and listened to the charms of her 
voice, I thought of the long, long ago. I remembered a trip to 
Oakes' Point when she was a tiny, but sprightly little elf, and 
where, for the amusement of the rest of the party, had played 
Eva to my Uncle Tom. After the concert was over, I met both 
her and her husband. She knew me at once, and an exceed- 
ingly pleasant half hour was spent in discussing some of the 
memories that w^ere invoked by this meeting after so long a 
separation. 

As we slowly walked toward the hotel my mind was too busy 
for me to pay much attention to my companion, and I fear that 
he found my company more disagreeable than entertaining. I 
could not talk. I had to think. To think of Blairsville in 
1894, and then in 1919. What might forces had been at work! 
What wonders had been wrought ! How her children had made 
a name for themselves ! How in spite of the marvelous growth 
and wonderful development, yet there was still so much of the 



44 

" old " Blairsville flavor about it all ! When I went to bed that 
night I dreamed of pianos, of the big pipe organ at the Con- 
servatory, of the hundreds upon hundreds of students who 
w-ere studying within its walls, when all at once an extra loud 
crash upon the piano awoke me. No, it was not a piano ; it 
was the electric bell at the head of my bed and denoted that 
the night was over and it was once more time to arise. 

When Wehrle and I met again in the lobby, I said : "Dick, 
you say its not very far from here to the Whitney Glass Works. 
Suppose we take a little stroll out that way. As we went by 
them in an electric car yesterday morning I caught only a 
glimpse of them, and I am specially anxious to get a good view 
of this establishment." Wehrle very readily accompanied me, 
and away we started; The reason why I was so interested in 
this concern was that in 1894, just before I left for Samoa, I 
had rendered a little assistance in the work of inducing these 
people to locate here. I had also become very well ac- 
quainted with Mr. Jefferis, the president of the company, 
and I was anxious to renew his acquaintance. A fifteen min- 
utes' walk brought us to the place where stood the largest flint 
glass plant in the world. Twenty-four stacks or furnaces stood 
in a row, and a mighty spectacle it made ! Fifteen hundred 
blowers were making bottles that daily by train loads left the 
Avorks. Immense packing houses that covered acres and acres 
of ground were filled with hundreds of packers who got the 
product of these factories ready for shipment. Sand and lime 
and other material was coming in literally by the train load. 
Jiist think of it, twenty-four factories ! Why, that is five times 
as many as the wildest dreams of any had ever given us. 
When the Whitney works located at Blairsville we felt sure we 
had captured an industrial prize, but we didn't know that we 
had landed such a whale as this. Not a particle of smoke was 
visible in spite of the fact that the works were in fall opera- 
tion, and as I knew that natural gas had long since gone the 
way of all things, I inquired as to why this was. 

"O, that's easily explained," answered my friend, "t!ie 
Whitney people are not only up with the times, but generally 



45 

a block or two ahead of the procession. When natural gas 
played out and oil got too high to be used economically as fuel) 
they made calculations on gas made from coal and found that, 
taking into consideration everything, the first cost of the coal, 
the freight charges, the cost of handling, and the removal of 
the ashes and cinders, it was just about as cheap and vastly 
more convenient, to make fuel gas at the place where coal is 
mined, and pipe it to the works. So when they had figured 
this out they started to carry it out in practice. They had been 
long-headed enough to anticipate something of this sort, and 
years before had bought a tract of coal up along Blacklick 
creek, the coal on which they opened up and made into gas., 
right at the place where it is mined. They pipe it to their fac- 
tory here, and the result you see. Buildings both inside an:d 
out so clean that a lady with a white dress on can pass through ; 
every one of them without getting a speck of soot or dirt on .: 
her." 

After Wehrle telling me that altogether about six thousand 
men and boys were employed here, we went to the office, where 
I wished to pay my respects to Mr. Jefferis. He immediately 
remembered my name, and was as cordial in his manner as 
when I met him a quarter of a century before. In the conver- 
sation he said that from the day the first bottle was blown in 
the one little factory they operated here in 1894 he had never 
for a single instant regretted that his company had located in 
Blairsville. " Indeed," said he, " it is possible that had we not 
come here and taken advantage of the many natural advant- 
ages that your town possessed I do not believe that the Whit- 
ney Glass Works would have reached the proportions it has. 
Your cheap fuel, low taxes, first-class shipping facilities, etc., 
etc., are greatly in your favor, and to them and to the hustling 
qualities of your citizens is due nearly all the wonderful growth 
of Blairsville." Blairsville had also honored Mr. Jefferis in 
several ways. He had been mayor of the city several times, 
and to be mayor of a city of almost half a million people is not 
a light honor. He had also been sent to Congress from this 
district twice, and could have remained there his lifetime had 



46 

not his love for and devotion to his business caused him at the 
end of his second term to decline a renomination. 

As we walked back to the hotel, Wehrle and I discussed what 
an exceedingly fortunate thing it was that Blairsville had suc- 
ceeded in securing this plant when it did. Just at that time 
the tDwn was almost dead, and the notoriety it received through 
the Whitney Company's coming here was the means of causing 
several other large manufacturing concerns to locate here in 
quick succession. "Yes," said Wehrle, "the very best and 
most profitable investment that our town ever made was the 
giving of that $12,000 bonus that it took such hard work to 
raise to give the Whitney Glass Company." 

As we reached the Conemaugh he remarked: "This after- 
noon I want to take you to the Court House and show you 
something new," and then left me to go to my room and get 
ready for lunch. 



47 



CHAPTER VIII. 



BLAIRSVILLE A WELL GOVERNED CITY — UNITED STATES COURT 
OP ARBITRATION SETTLES DISPUTES BETWEEN LABOR AND 
CAPITAL— BLAIRSVILLE BOYS JUDGE AND LAWYERS. 

As we were seated at a table in the beautiful dining hall of 
the Conemaugh discussing the able-bodied lunch that we had 
selected from the bill of fare, my fellow-diner turned to me and 
said : " Well, this afternoon I propose to turn your attention in 
another direction. Since you came you have devoted your 
time principally to our achievements along commercial and 
industrial lines, paying but little, if any, attention to the pres- 
ent management of social, political and governmental affairs. 
In these there have been as great a change and as decided an 
improvement as in the others." 

I replied by saying that while I had as yet seen nothing of 
how these affairs were managed now, and had not even made 
any inquiry as to their present status, yet my mind had still 
been busy in conjecturing as to what changes had occurred and 
what were the improvements that had been introduced. That 
the machinery was good and fulfilled its purpose I felt abso- 
lutely sure, for here was a large city that contained all the 
modern improvements, that was made up largely of a popula- 
tion composed of iron, glass and tin-plate workers, and that 
was filled with almost numberless public institutions that had 
to be taken care of and managed, and as it all went on without 
a hitch or a jar, and as I heard no word of dissatisfaction nor 
saw not even a sign that anyone had cause for complaint, I took 
it for granted that the control of municipal and government 
affairs was in wise and capable hands. 

" Yes," said Wehrle, as we slowly walked through the lobby 
toward the Grand avenue entrance, " our city is well governed, 



48 



and so, indeed, is the State, and above it all the nation. But 
to-day I want to show you what will be a novelty to one who 
has for so long a time been a stranger to his native land. I 
intend this afternoon to be your guide to the government build- 
ings, which are located but a block or two below here, and 
show you the United States Court of Arbitration in operation." 

" That is certainly something new," I replied. " I had been 
somewhat familiar with the old United States Courts before I 
left, but this seems to be something new and different." 

"Yes," said Wehrle, "this is something with which you are 
not at all familiar, and as we walk along I will try to explain 
what is meant by the term United States Court of Arbitration, 
so that you may better understand what you will see when we 
get into the room where this court is in session. You may rec- 
ollect that in 1 894 the country was in a fearful state of unrest. 
One great strike succeeded another, nearly all of them attended 
with scenes of violence and accompanied by bloodshed. Mili- 
tary had been called out in a dozen States in the Union, and 
even the United States troops had to take a hand. Many be- 
lieved that the long looked-for war between labor and capital 
had actually commenced. Many feared for the salety of the 
government, and it did seem as though the country would be 
ground between two mill stones, one being the oppressions of 
the capitalists and large employers of labor and the other being 
the exactions and tyranny of labor unions. 

"There was a general clamor that our Congress do some- 
thing that would banish the strike and lockout system and 
enable those who had a grievance, real or imaginary, right or 
wrong, be they employers or employed, to lay them before a 
properly constituted tribunal, whose decision in the matter 
should be final, and from which there could be no appeal and a 
disregard of which should be treated as contempt of court and 
subject the offender to severe and swift punishment. A series 
of laws regulating the relations between employers and em- 
ployed was also passed, and many provisions made for both 
classes. For instance, no laborer can now be discharged with- 
out at least ten days' notice. Wages cannot be lowered with- 



49 

out a previous notice of thirty days, nor can any wage-worker 
quit his master's employ .without giving a ten days notice of 
his intention to leave. These are but a few of the laws made, 
the most important one being the establishment of this court 
in which all grievances are heard and argued before a judge 
and jury just as all legal cases x^ere before you left the States." 
Just as my friend had finished this brief but interesting de- 
scription of the new order of things he pointed out a large 
marble structure on the other side of the avenue Vv'hich he 
informed me was the United States government building, in 
one of the rooms of which the Court of Arbitration held its 
sessions. The building was on a par with the many fine ones 
with which the city was filled and a credit to the great govern- 
ment whose local home it furnished. It was eight stories 
high and built solidly of white marble. Its entrance was 
gi'aced by many large columns of marble, while a flight of 
granite steps led from the street to the first floor, which was 
elevated some six or eight feet from the level of the street. 
A heroic statue of Liberty surmounted a massive dome that 
rose from the centre and the general appearance of the struc- 
ture was majestic in the extreme. 

• After we entered the rotunda, we walked to the right and 
were conveyed to the fifth floor where the Arbitration Court 
rooms were. We entered a large hall and saw a typical court 
room sight. There was the judge on his bench; a jury in 
their places; counsel p^ddressing the court and jury; witnesses 
on the stand, and all the other adjuncts of the administration 
of justice that I had been familiar with twenty-five years be- 
fore. Some important case seemed to be engaging the atten- 
tion of the participants, and, noting the curious look on my • 
face, my guide looked over and whispered : "This is the case 
of the employes of the International Edge Tool and Cutlery 
Company's employes against the company. The employes 
claim that the company had made a contract with its employes 
in the cutlery department that they should be paid three dollars 
per dozen for making a particular style of knife in a particular 
way, and that when the company changed the design, the 



60 

change involving an increase of labor, they refused to increase 
the price for making, and, therefore, the employes called upon 
the court for a decision. Remember now, please, that at this 
immense establishment no strike is in progress. Every man 
is at work and no one will lose a day. Nor will there be a 
strike no matter how the question may be decided. This is the 
chief beauty of this system. For fifteen years there has not 
been a strike in the whole country. Both parties know that 
there is a tribunal where all such questions will be decided 
fairly upon their merits, and the day of the strike and lockout, 
with their attendant riot, disorder and loss, are a thing of the 
past." 

Each state, my informant told me, was divided into districts 
and each one of these districts had one of these courts. Penn- 
sylvania was divided into three districts, the Eastern, Middle 
and Western, and Blairsville, being the largest city in the latter, 
was selected as the place for the holding of the court. The 
judges were appointed by the President and held office for a 
period of ten years. Juries were selected as the juries for the 
United State courts were selected before I had left the country, 
and the operations were in all respects similar to the proceed- 
ings of any properly organized and conducted court of justice 
in the land. 

I watched the proceedings with a great deal of interest, and 
particularly so after my friend had pointed out that some of 
those prominently engaged were ones whom I had formerly 
known in the "brave days of old." 

" The presiding officer of that court," said Wehrle, "is Judge 
Boyd Ewing. You recollect that he graduated from Princeton 
the same year you went to Samoa. He commenced the study 
of law after his graduation and hung out his shingle right at 
home. He didn't have to wait long for clients, and, whether 
by accident or design, I don't know which, he seemed to make 
a specialty of those cases in which the peculiar relations of 
capitalists and workingmen were involved. He made in a very 
few years quite a reputation, and when the law establishing 
this court was passed he was appointed to the judgeship of this 



61 

district by President Hastings, who, by the way, is no other 
than General Daniel H. Hastings, who was elected Governor of 
Pennsylvania in 1894. And that lawyer who is so eloquently 
pleading the case of the employes of the cutlery department 
of the International Edge Tool and Cutlery Company is Ralph 
Davis, Esq." " What ! " I exclaimed, "you don't mean to tell 
me that this is the little chap that used to sell the Evening 
Courier?" "The very same," he replied. "I tell you that 
the Courier boys have all turned out well. Every one of them 
has made his mark, and before I get through showing you 
about the city you'll find some more of them occupying posi- 
tions that almost any one would be glad to hold." 

"And who is that line looking lawyer and good talker that is 
now presenting the merits of the other side of the case?" I 
asked, as another lawyer arose after Dovis had finished. 

"That," answered Wehrle, "is another one of those who 
were ' kids ' when you were here twenty-five years ago. That's 
Davis Cunningham, Esq., and he is also one of our leading 
lawyers." 

Well, well, well ! how strange, I thought, that those little 
fellows of what seemed to me just a few years ago should now 
be engaged in carrying on the affairs of the nation and this 
populous and teeming city. It made me feel old, very old. 
Of course I was pretty well up in years, but I felt as young as 
ever. 'Tis true that my back was a little stiffer than it used to 
be, and that rheumatic twinges every once in a while visited 
my joints, but in all other respects I felt as young as I did a 
quarter of a century ago, but when I looked at these men who 
were mere boys when I left I felt as old as I was and looked, 
and realized that I was almost at the end of the decline ; but a 
few more steps and I would be there. 

As we left the court room I was filled with emotions, the 
most pronounced one being that I had seen what I believed was 
the workings of the highest and best type of government that 
the human mind is capable of conceiving and executing, and 
that the functions that this branch of it was exercising was, 
perhaps, the most important and far reaching in its effects of 



62 

any that came within the scope of it's jurisdiction. In my 
former days we had been afraid of too much paternalism, and 
that had been the bugaboo, but my experience this afternoon 
had taught mc that at that time the great trouble was that we 
hadn t quite enough. 

I have devoted more space to this than many of my readers 
may think necessary, and can only offer as an apology the fact 
that an arrangement that has succeeded in banishing strikes is 
worthy of a ponderous tome written by a pen a thousand times 
abler than the feeble one I wield. 



53 



CHAPTER IX. 



WONDERFUL TRANSFORMATION OF BAIRDSTOWN— BAIRD'S HILL 
AND THE BEAUTIFUL RESIDENCE DISTRICT — THE VIEW FROM 
THE HILL— A MAGNIFICENT SCENE. 

When we left the government building and stepped out upon 
the broad flag stone pavement of Grand Avenue, Wehrle sug- 
gested that as we had an hour or two to spare before it was 
time to return to the Conemaugh, we might as well improve it 
by taking a stroll down to the river and view at close range 
the many changes and the wonderful transformation that had 
been wrought on the other side. As we walked along he told 
me that not long after Blairsville had entered upon its career 
of rapid growth and unexampled prosperity a movement had 
been set on foot to make a county out of Derry township, in 
Westmoreland county, and Burrell township in Indiana county, 
with Blairsville as the county seat. This movement was 
crowned with success, and now Blairsville is the county capi- 
tal of Burrell county, formed from the territory named above. 
He also told me that Blairsville' s city lines extended for several 
miles on the western side of the river and warned me not to 
say Bairdstown for, said he, "that name now exists only in 
legendary lore and ancient history. Some times,' he con- 
tinued, "when we want to designate that portion of the city 
lying on the other side of the river, we say West Side or West 
Blairsville, but Bairdstown never." 

He said this in such a cold-blooded and apparently heartless 
manner that I was provoked. "Now, hold on, Dick," I an- 
swered, "don't dictate to me, please, as to what I shall say. 
Bairdstown is for me full of pleasant associations, and each 
mention of the name brings up old and tender recollections. 
I know that j^ou are proud of Blairsville and its greatness. 



54 

Nothing would please you better than that all the small towns 
iu this part of the country, such as Latrobe, Greensburg, Indi- 
ana, S.iitsburg, and others, should be annexed to this twentieth 
century wonder you call Blairsville and they be called the 
same, but as for me I want some little vestige or relic of that 
happy and quiet past to remain with me, and about the only 
thing I see to hold on to is the old nomenclature. Therefore, 
for me Bairdstovv^n still exists. Sometimes I may say "Brook- 
lyn," and again "over the Rhine," but when I do I mean 
Bairdstown." 

What a host of memories that old name recalls. Bairdstown 
as I speak of it brings up a whole host of recollections. I can 
close my eyes and see William Stitt and that old veteran, James 
Humphrey, in hot and fierce argument. I see Stitt' s little 
store with its assembled coterie of choice spirits as they sit day 
in and day out, either indulging in reminiscences of the old 
canal days, discussing the present or peering into that future 
that in this year of grace 1919 is for us the present. And then 
there is Daniel Murray, Corporal he was popularly called by 
his friends. Who could forget his drolleries and unfailing good 
humor, and who of all old Blairsvillians could saj^ "Bairds- 
town," or even think of it, without its bringing him to mind? 
And there's another of the old stagers that the name recalls, 
Captain Eli Waugaman. If I am not to say Bairdstown, I will 
have to forget him and Waugaman' s hole in the river, where 
I spent so many hours fishing, an operation, by the way, that, 
althought quite jDleasant, was always barren of more substan- 
tial results. 

And then there was H. A. Torrance, the veteran storekeeper, 
who from time immemorial almost had held forth in a store- 
room just a few steps on the other side of the bridge. And I 
would have to forget Squire Torrance, who dispensed justice 
over there long before that big court house in which Burrell 
county's affairs are transacted was erected in Blairsville. And 
the old wooden bridge, too, that used to span the Conemaugh 
at a point just ahead of me, where that magnificent steel draw 
bridge is now thrown across the steamer and boat burdened 



55 

stream. Could I ever forget the picturesqueness of its weather- 
beaten appearance ? The many dark nooks in it in which a 
half century ago we played hide and seek ? Nor would it be 
possible for me to banish all recollections of how the gloom and 
darkness of its interior would awe me as sometimes after the 
shades of evening had descended I would peer into its black 
depths. No, none of these can be forgotten, and so long as 
their pictures are fresh in my mind's eye, so long will Bairds- 
town live in the hearts and recollections of the old citizens. 

But here we are where the old wooden bridge used to stand, 
that was in turn succeded by several iron structures, of which 
one time we were very proud. But they, too, had gone the 
way of their wooden predecessor and could not stand before 
the march of improvement. A steel bridge that opened when 
steamers passed up and down now spanned the Conemaugh, 
and there it stood a massive giant with strength to bear up an 
army, but so delicately balanced that the touch of a finger 
almost would cause it to swing to and fro. As we reached the 
eastern approach it had just swung open to let a steamer from 
New Orleans laden with fruit pass through, and when it swung 
back we stepped upon it and walked across to view more closely 
the aspect on the other side. 'Tis true that Bairdstown was no 
more. Not a vestige of it remained. No, not even a stick or 
stone. The very topograph}^ of the surface had been changed. 
Baird's Hill was still there, the same in altitude but different in 
shape and slope. From the edge of the river to the bottom of 
the hill the surface had been graded as level as a floor and every 
square foot of it paved with granite. Granite walls confined 
the river to its channel, and this made one of the most magnifi- 
cent and substantial wharves that I had ever seen. It was 
covered with handreds of teams that were bringing goods to 
be deposited in the holds of the boats that lined the wharf, or 
carrying them away as they were brought out from some 
steamer with a cargo of incoming freight. It \Yas a busy scene 
and another striking evidence of the vastness of Blairsville's 
commerce and trade. The engineer, mason and landscape 
gardener had literally transformed Baird's Hill. It was a hill 



56 

no longer, but a succession of grass-carpeted terraces clear to 
the top. Each terrace was perhaps ten feet in height, and the 
ascent was about as pronounced as that of the pyramids. All 
along at equal distances to a square were inclines that trans- 
ported passengers, goods, yes, even teams, to the top. We took 
the one that arose from the foot of Grand avenue, and in a 
minute were at the top looking out over the Blairsville of 1919. 
What a wonderful panorama lay spread out before me, and 
what a busy scene was being enacted there ! Blairsville with 
its sky-scraping buildings, its sky-piercing spires, its many 
monuments, its miles upon miles of streets, its swiftly rolling 
cars, its thousands of people — Blairsville in all its greatness, 
might, majesty and beauty stretched out before me as far as 
my eyes could reach. No, the half had not been told, nor had 
I with all the industrious sight-seeing of the past few days been 
able to do more than to skip from one wonder to another, leav- 
ing between them, unnoticed and unseen, many as astonishing 
as the ones inspected. 

And to the westward stretched what seemed another city. 
Here the work people largely made their homes. There were 
miles of streets filled with neat and substantial cottages and 
dwellings, in which lived the men who on the other side in the 
manufacturing districts rolled the iron, blew the glass and 
dipped the tin plates. It was, too, a beautiful residence dis- 
trict. The lots upon which the homes were built were all fifty 
feet front by a hundred and fifty feet deep, and each house 
stood back at least fifteen feet from the street. There were 
flower gardens in profusion and garden plots in abundance. 
A row of stately elms stood on each side of the streets and the 
entire aspect reminded one of some sweet and simple country 
village. It seems that Milt C. Kerr was the originator of the 
idea of making this territory the home of the working classes. 
When he sold out his drug store in 1897, Wehrle told me, to 
McKinnie Baker, he bought up all the land stretching from the 
brow of the hill for a mile or more to the westward. He then 
enlisted some New York capitalists in the scheme and they 
built a large number of dwellings that they sold on the easy 



57 

payment plan. As the city grew they built more, and so on 
until they had built and sold several thousand. One of the 
chief beauties of this district is that the houses of none of them 
are alike. Each one of them has an individuality and distinc- 
tiveness all its own, and as each is different from the other in 
design or finish there is absent that depressing monotony and 
sameness that is so common in other cities in the residence dis- 
tricts. 

" This idea was a ten strike for Mockey," said Wehrle. "He 
made a couple of fortunes out of it and has long ago retired 
from active business to enjoy his wealth. He has a couple of 
boj^s, though, that manage their father's large interests, and 
are quite as successful at it as he was." 

I was very glad to hear of the good fortune of another of my 
old friends and to be once more reminded of the uniform good 
fortune that seemed to have attended them all. 

It was now time to return to the hotel, and as we slowly 
strolled up the avenue Wehrle told me that this evening he 
would accompany me to the court house to hear a speech by 
Pennsylvania's newly elected Governor, and also to hear what 
was universally conceded to be the finest military band in the 
United States. 

This shall be reserved for another chapter in which you will 
be told who is Pennsylvania's new Governor and who is the 
organizer and leader of this famous musical organization. 



58 



CHAPTER X. 



BUREELL COUNTY COURT HOUSE AND GOVERNOR WILSON- 
AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP A NECESSARY REQUISITE— BLAIRS- 
VILLE MILITARY BAND AND ITS LEADER. 

As we were seated at dinner that evening Wehrle said to me : 
" I don't want to hurry you away from this elegant repast that 
mine host Duncan is serving his guests to-night, but if we are 
to get a good seat in the court house hall, where the Governor 
is to make his speech, we will have to be just a little more ex- 
peditious than we usually are when we get our feet under the 
Conemaugh's mahogany, for there s going to be a tremendous 
crowd to hear Governor Wilson, and it will be a case of first 
come, first served ; so hurry up, and if you don't satisfy your 
hunger at this sitting we'll have a lunch after the speech is 
over." 

For reasons that will be quite apparent in the further course 
of this narrative I was more than anxious to hear the Governor, 
and would have left untasted the tempting spread before us if 
I had had to choose between missing it or the speech. In a few 
minutes we had finished and were on our way to the court 
house, which by the way, was a structure which I had wished 
to examine closely and carefully ever since my return. I had 
had glimpses of it from a distance that almost entranced me, 
while its praises had been so loudly sung by all with whom I 
had come in contact during my visit that I felt as though I had 
done both it and myself an injustice in not visiting it long ere 
this. I knew that an impressive and magnificent sight would 
greet my eyes when I stood before Burrell county's home, and 
that in it I would see another evidence of Blairsville's genius 
and Blairsville's greatness. I was, however, not quite prepared 
for the grandeur of the scene that burst upon my vision when 



59 

we reached the block on Devers street, bounded on the west by 
Wilkinson avenue and on the east by Ray avenue. In order to 
have a clearer idea of its location, as per the street arrange- 
ment of Blairsville in 1894, it might be best to explain that 
Devers street was formerly known as Brown, while Ray avenue 
is the successor to Walnut street, and old Spring street is the 
predecessor of Wilkinson avenue. These thoroughfares were 
named after Messrs. J. H. Devers, Captain George Wilkinson 
and Samuel Ray, three gentlemen who were distinguished, not 
only for their wealth and prominence in public affairs, but also 
for the generous manner in which they aided in every work 
undertaken for Blairsville' s upbuilding. 

But to return to the court house. It was certainly the most 
artistic in design and beautiful in appearance of any building 
that I had ever laid my eyes on. It was a worthy habitation 
for a goddess, and Justice, when she entered here to take up her 
abode, must, undoubtedly, have realized and felt that a com- 
munity that would provide her with so beautiful a home would 
also be likely to pay her homage in every other way. And this 
was literally true, for Wehrle told me that in this populous 
county, with a population of almost three quarters of a million, 
there had, within the past fifteen years, not a murder been 
committed, and that crimes against the person and robberies, 
thefts, arson and similar infractions of law and order were 
very rare. "Indeed," said he, "it is the pride and boast of 
every inhabitant that nowhere else in the world is there a city 
or community that is so free from crime and disorder as Blairs- 
ville is." I was more than surprised to learn this, and, wonder- 
ing as to what contributed to bring about this most desirable 
state of affairs, I asked : " And, pray, what is the ca,use of this 
unusual good behavior ? It would seem to me as though in a 
community whose population is so largely made up of toilers 
in shops, mines, factories and furnaces, there would be found 
a large rough element, very likely made up principally of for- 
eigners, whom it would be exceedingly difficult, if not alto- 
gether impossible, to control as you have indicated must have 
done well, if the statement you made in regard to the lack of 



60 

crime be absolutely true and borne out by the actual conditions 
of affairs as they are seen in the operation of your police and 
other criminal courts." 

"I can best gratify your very natural curiosity as to what 
we are indebted for this most desirable state of affairs by in- 
forming you that your supposition that our laboring class is 
made up of a large foreign element is not correct. The Hun, 
the Slav, the Italian, do not flourish here. Our manufacturers 
have been guided, or rather warned, by the experience of 
many of their brethren back in the nineties who filled up this 
end of the state with a class of laborers whose intelligence 
was hardly equal to that of some of the members of the brute 
creation, and whose ideas of liberty embraced the thought that 
it meant no master in either the domain of government, re- 
ligion or society, and who were bitter enemies of all three. 
Our people in laying the foundation stones for Blairsville's 
future greatness, builded wisely. Its employers of labor made 
it a rule to employ in their establishments none but American 
citizens. By this is not meant that all foreigners were ex- 
cluded. By no means ; it meant simply that a man must pos- 
sess the qualifications that are necessary to make him worthy 
of living under the protecting folds of the stars and stripes. 
He must be a respecter of law and a lover of peace, and have 
shown that he is also a lover of our American institutions by 
his having made himself an actual citizen by due legal process. 
You can readily see that the observance of this practice gave 
us a laboring class far superior, yes, ten thousand times so, to 
any that could have been obtained had our employers looked 
first to money cheapness of labor and second to other quali- 
ties.'' 

Here, thought I, is the secret of how one of the perplexing 
social problems that confronted the land when I left it a quarter 
of a century before can be solved. Shut off the demand and 
you shut off the supply. Quit employing the dregs of Hun- 
gary and Italy and the situation will soon clarify, and this 
country possess what it is intended it should, a citizenship 
made up of individuals, each one intelligent, law-abiding and 



61 

patriotic. All this was told to me and these were my thoughts 
in the few minutes that I stood surveying the court house from 
pavement to dome. There was no question about it. It was 
worth all the admiration with which it was regarded, and when 
I was told that every brick and stone, every pound of iron and 
steel and every square inch of glass used in its construction 
was made or gotten right here in Burrell county, I had renewed 
cause for wonder. Another reason why it was remarkable was 
that not a foot of wood was used in its building. It was what 
might be truly termed an iron and glass building, for from its 
foundation to the beautiful statue of Justice that surmounted its 
dome, all was iron, steel and glass. What gave it most a peculiar 
but rich and beautiful appearance was that the walls were built 
of glass brick, beautifully tinted and almost transparent. The 
combination of colors was chaste and beautiful, even though a 
hundred different colors and shades were mingled. The lights 
in the interior shone through, so that the immense structure 
literally flashed and glowed and glittered like some monster 
diamond. I wish that I could describe its many beauties and 
the charming grace of its appearance, but I cannot — you must 
see it to appreciate — see it not only once, but a hundred times, 
for each view will disclose a fresh beauty and discover some 
hitherto unseen charm. 

One of the most interesting things told me in connection with 
this superb structure was that, in addition to the fact that all 
the material of which it was built was of Blairsville production, 
reared by Blairsville labor, it was further noteworthy by reason 
of the fact that the beauty and grace of its design is the con- 
ception of an old Blairsville boy's brain. Wehrle informed 
me, when telling me of its construction, that Charlie Clawson, 
who was a Courier carrier and j ust knee high to a duck when 
I left here, had given evidence of considerable talent in the art 
of designing and drawing, and some of our wealthy citizens 
interested themselves to see that he was given ample oppor- 
tunity for its development. So they sent him to the finest 
schools in the land and topped a long and thorough course in 
this country off with a four years term of study in Paris. He 



62 

so improved his opportunities both of study and observation 
that now he was the leading architect in not only this state, 
but in all this eastern portion of the United States. 

Crowds of people were surging in through the four great 
entrances that fronted on the streets that bounded the court 
house, and joining the ones that entered the Devers street side 
we passed into the rotunda and stood under the dome, made of 
the purest and most transparent glass and through which the 
stars were plainly visible. But we have no time to linger, so 
we hurry into the main hall where the speaking is to take place, 
and this room itself is worthy of as many rhapsodies as I have 
lavished upon the whole building. We are just in time to get 
a good seat in front of the rostrum, and while I was engaged 
in surveying the mighty audience that filled the immense audi- 
torium and drinking in the many beauties of decoration, my 
companion turned to me and said : 

" See, there, at the Ray avenue side is marching in the most 
famous military band of the world. There's nothing like it 
anywhere, nor do I believe there can be, for the United States 
has but one R. H. Frey, and he is the one man who can train 
such a band as this. Music has been his life work, and this is 
the crowning work of his genius." 

I turned my gaze in the direction indicated, and in there 
came marching what was a brass band whose name might be 
spelled with a big B. There were a hundred and fifty musicians 
with Frey, we used to call him "Bob," but we daren't call the 
leader of this company of artists, this grave, white-haired, 
medal bespangled director or leader, by such a familiar and 
undignified appellation as "Bob." But still its the "Bob" of 
1894, and as he swings his baton and the first notes of that mar- 
vellous music enter my ear I think of the little band that this 
superb organization was evolved from. "Blairsville City 
Band" they used to call themselves, and when Frej^ could get 
a dozen of them together he had a full turn out. Now, how 
different ! And the music they made ! Man has not yet been 
able to transfer the glorious tints of the setting sun to canvas, 
nor to reproduce the sighing and the moaning of the wind ; 



63 

neither can he make words, written or spoken, be the repre- 
sentative, fully understood and appreciated, of the concourse 
of sounds that is termed music. So I forbear, and can only- 
say Pat Gilmore and his band in their palmiest days were far 
outstripped by Frey and this band of his creating. 

But here is Governor Wilson and Irdpn't want to miss a word 
of his speech, for he happens to be another Blairsville boy, one 
who is self-made, and who has climl>ed up uiiaidedTby ."aught 
than the promptings of ambition, indomitable will, unfailiiig 
perseverance and a goodly quantity of brains.'- 'As I listened 
to his matchless eloquence and convincinglogicl could hardly 
believe that this was Harry Wilson, another of the Courier 
newsboys who in 1894 had made it their business to see that the 
citizens were supplied with that sheet. Wehrle told me that 
the boy had literally made himself. He had always been frugal 
and industrious, and had risen from one step to another until 
now he was clothed with the highest honor that this great com- 
monwealth could bestow upon its sons. Harry had just been 
elected, and it was freely predicted that if he was as pleasing 
to the people as Governor as he had been while a member of 
the city council, his administration would long be remembered 
for its excellence. By the time his superb speech was ended I 
was fully impressed with a sense ol his ability and believed 
that he was the right man in the right place. 

This had been one of the pleasantest evenings I had spent in 
a long, long time, and as Wehrle and I strolled back to the 
hotel I told him that I was glad that the next day was Sunday, 
and therefore a day in which I could get at least a little rest 
from the excitement and mind disturbing scenes of the past 
two or three days. 

As Dick bade me good night he remarked: "Now, don't 
sleep too long in the morning, for I want you to come with me 
to the First Presbyterian Church to hear an old Blairsville boy 
preach." 



64 



CHAPTER XI. 



WHAT BLAIRSVILLE MAY BE IN 1944— FIRST PRESBYTERIAN 
CHURCH AND ITS ELOQUENT PASTOR — THE Y. M. C. A. AND 
UNIQUE METHODIST CHURCH. 

When I opened my eyes the next morning and realized that 
this was Sunday and the day of rest I was more than glad, for 
the sight-seeing of the past few days had been filled with so 
much of the exciting and thrilling that my nerve forces had 
been largely and strongly drawn upon and I felt as though I 
absolutely needed a restorative, such a one as only the peace 
and calm of a Sabbath could bestow. 

Knowing that nothing fatiguing to either mind or body con- 
fronted me, and that several hours must elapse before it would 
be time to repair to the First Presbyterian Church, the morning 
services of which my friend had the night before invited me to 
attend with him, I was in no hurry to arise, aud lay there in a 
state of dreaming languor in which retrospections were mingled 
with present perceptions, and every once in a while would 
come the thought of what Blairsville would be in another 
quarter of a century if this wonderful rate of growth were to 
be steadily kept up in the same proportion. Visions of a second 
London came before me, and in my mind s eye I saw a city the 
wonder of the world. Not only was it a monster hive of indus- 
try with thousands of busy workshops where were made the 
many requisites of our daily life with its hundreds and hun- 
dreds of necessities, requirements and wants, but it was a cen- 
tre of culture, intelligence and refinement. 

Here was the veritable home of literature and art, and from 
Blairsville, printed in its mammonth publishing houses, were 
sent broadcast over the world the products of the genius and 
intellect of the famous authors, thinkers, poets and philoso- 



65 

phers whose homes were here, and whose inspiration was 
largely due to the fact that over this wonderful city, this 
greatest exponent of twentieth century civilization, the spirit 
of progress was constantly hovering and breathing into each 
one within its limits a portion of its own wonderful courage, 
temper and energy. 

Here too were painters whose genius and talents were trans- 
cendental and whose glowing canvases, upon which with magic 
brush and colors that were nature's own they had reproduced 
the ideals of their minds and hearts, were hanging upon the 
walls of palaces where princes, kings and emperors abode. 

From this hub of twentieth century life there radiated, like 
the spokes of a wheel, broad currents of thought that carried 
on their bosom to Europe, to Asia, to Africa, to the islands of 
the sea a thousand messages that all tended to the upbuilding 
of humanity and its general advancement in all that civilizes, 
refines, broadens and polishes. 

In 1944 the material would be subordinated to the spiritual 
and mental, and the dweller in Blairsville would have infinitely 
more pride in the fact that the city where he made his home and 
of which he was so proud was the great centre of literature, of 
science, of art, than did the denizen of 1919 in the fact that from 
its factories and workshops were sent all over the globe locomo- 
tives, cars, engines, boilers, and iron, steel and glass in its 
many shapes and forms. They pointed with more pride to 
colleges, schools, universities, laboratories, observatories and 
churches than we did to workshop, furnace, cupola and factory. 

But I must not dream too much nor too long of the future. 
The present is what most concerns me, and as to-day, even on 
Sunday, I will see what will prove as wonderful as the sights 
of 1944 would to one of the present day, I must arise and get 
ready to again resume, this time in another direction, the sight- 
seeing and explorations that under the guidance of my friend 
I had found so intensely interesting. 

• So, jumping out of bed, I soon made my toilet and hied my- 
self to the dining hall, where in a trice I was served with a 
breakfast so savory and so appetizing that every bit I partook 



66 

of but created a desire for more. After having done the menu 
more than justice I descended to the first floor, where I found 
Wehrle awaiting me, who, after the usual hearty greeting, said : 

"It lacks but half an hour until services begin at the First 
Presbyterian Church, so we had better start, for though the 
distance is not far, yet the attendance is always so great that 
frequently many are turned away for lack of room even though 
they may be there before the time set for the beginning of the 
service." 

"Why this rush?" I inquired, "you certainly have in this 
great city more than one Presbyterian Church, have you not ? " 

"O, yes," he answered, "It's not so much that it's a Pres- 
byterian Church that attracts the crowd, but the magnet is the 
more than thrilling and persuasive eloquence of the pastor. 
He is the Talmage and Spurgeon combined of this day, and 
enjoys a fame quite equal to either of these two. Every Mon- 
day morning his sermons are published in the principal jour- 
nals of the land, and did he care to leave his work here he could 
make a fortune each season on the lecture platform." 

" Now that you speak of it," I returned, " I know whom you 
mean, and I also recollect that this is another old Blairsville 
boy whom I had almost forgotten. It's Thomas S. Evans, isn't 

it?" 

"The very man," said Wehrle, "and in a very short time 
you'll be able to judge for yourself as to whether or not he is 
justly entitled to all the fame that he has acquired." 

By this time we had reached the church building, toward 
which crowds of people from all quarters were streaming. 
Before we entered we stopped a minute or two to survey its 
exterior, and I could easily have spent half a day in admiring 
and inspecting its many architectural beauties. It was a noble 
structure, built in cathedral style, and was said by visitors to 
the old world to be in its way as handsome and inspiring in 
appearance as any chur3h edifice on the continent. I wish that 
I could describe its varied charms, its airy grace, its perfect 
and symmetrical proportions and the beauty of the material 
of which it was made, but I must leave that for an abler pen 



67 

than mine. We stepped inside, and found an interior in keep- 
ing with the exterior. The auditorium was immense ; three 
thousand people could be comfortably seated within its spacious 
precincts, while the beauty created by the carver in wood, the 
worker in brass, the designer of stained glass, the artist with 
his brush, and all the other craftsmen that had labored there 
was almost overpowering. 

But now the services began, and as the strains of the im- 
mense pipe organ whose deep tones accompanied the voices of 
the choir broke upon my ear, I felt that now all the senses 
were satisfied and that anything more would create satiety. 

After the preliminary services were finished Dr. T. S, Evans 
arose and began the sermon. The ctear tones of his voice 
penetrated every nook and corner of the immense room, and 
he had not spoken more than five minutes before I was ready 
to confess that he was undisputed and righteous owner of all 
the plaudits that had been awarded him. His sermon was of 
the practical order. His reasoning and deductions Avere such 
as convinced me that he was a man who mingled actively with 
the world, with all sorts and conditions of men ; that he was 
not dependent upon hearsay nor observation at long range, 
and perhaps through an inverted telescope, for his knowledge 
of the daily life of not only this great city but the whole 
country, yes, even the entire world. He understood the needs 
of men and therein lay the greater i)art of his power. 

As we walked back to the Conemaugh my friend remarked : 
*' After we have had a little lunch I want to take you to the Y. 
M. C. A. building and show you what we believe is something 
we have a right to be extremely proud of." 

I, of course, gladly accepted th« invitation, and as the term 
" Y. M. C. A." was mentioned I thought of the one that years 
and years before before, almost, if not altogether, half a cen- 
tury ago had been organized in Blairsville. I thought of the 
meetings at the "Ridge" schoolhouses ; the ones that were 
held Sunday afternoons in the modest little hall. And then 
I thought of Hon. John Hill, William Battles, John I. Chapman, 
H. P. Shepley, J. A. and T. D. Cunningham and a score or 



68 

more of others who in those days of old had worked so hard m 
the establishment and continuance of a branch of this institu- 
tion, and when it finally died how little did they dream that in 
time to come there would appear as its successor the stout and 
healthy institution that was to-day the city's pride. 

A visit realized my expectations. The building was an orna- 
ment not only to that portion in which it was situated, but to 
the city as a whole. Twelve lofty stories were piled one above 
the other, and every square loot of room was devoted to the 
uses of the organization. We entered the office, where we found 
the general superintendent, Carl Davis, who, by the way, is 
another of the Courier's old carriers who has gone steadily 
along in the world, mounting higher and higher each step he 
took. 

Under his guidance we inspected the building, and I was 
more than amazed at the comfortable and luxurious provisions 
that had been provided here for the young men of the city. 
There were libraries in which were to be found almost every 
book that would be probably called for. Reading and writing 
rooms provided with every requisite. Bathrooms that might 
have been adjuncts to a lady's boudoir. A gymnasium where 
five hundred could exercise, and filled with all the paraphernalia 
that was necessary. Assembly rooms and auditoriums where 
their meetings were held. Reception rooms and parlors that 
would have graced the magnificent residences I had seen along 
Oakes' Point boulevard and out at Falling Run Park. There 
was everything necessary to comfort and convenience ; not a 
thing was lacking. 

As we walked away I thought that this institution, when 
measured with the little one that had preceded it, was as won- 
derful an evidence of the evolution that had taken place here 
as anything I had yet seen, and also showed that the people of 
this bustling, hustling and rustling community thought too of 
other things than buying and selling real estate, hammering- 
iron and steel, blowing glass, discounting notes and all the 
other arts that are practiced in a manufacturing and mercantile 
community. 



G9 

In the evening we attended the Grand Avenue Methodist 
Church, the largest M. E. Church in the city. I was particu- 
larly anxious for a visit to this church ever since I had been 
told that Guy Battles, beg pardon, I mean the Rev. Guy Bat- 
tles, D.D,, was pastor in charge, for you must recollect that 
Guy was another of the Courier's little shavers with whom I 
had come into intimate contact in the days of Auld Lang Syne 
when I used to push the pencil on the Courier and had charge 
of the circulation department at the same time. 

This church was the most unique building in the world, inas- 
much as it was supposed to be an exact model, on a smaller 
scale of course, of the temple built by Solomon in the days 
when his fame and glory filled the world. This church build- 
ing was one of the shows of the city. Not a visitor came here 
but went to see it, and not one but was filled with wonder, sur- 
prise and admiration as he gazed upon this reproduction of one 
of the grandest.edifices that was ever reared by man. 

It is impossible for me to describe it so that the reader may 
have any adequate idea of its general appearance and char- 
acter. It was the sort of thing that has to be seen to be appre- 
ciated and understood, and though I had frequently read de- 
scriptions of it before my visit, I was not prepared in any 
degree for the sight that met my eyes. As with the outside so 
with the interior. Here the skill and cunning of almost all 
handicrafts had been exhausted, and as one gazed upon its 
magnificence and realized that in a place just like this, even 
down to the smallest detail, the children of Israel had thousands 
of years before worshipped their God, I felt as though merely 
to be within these walls without even sound of organ, strains 
of song or voice raised in prayer and exhortation was an act 
of worship, such sacred emotions were inspired. 

But when the services began and the occupant of the pulpit 
commenced his discourse, then this feeling was intensified as I 
listened to the words that fell from his lips. Powerful words 
that reached the heart, that satisfied the hunger for truth and 
filled the cravings of him who w.is dissatisfied with earthly 
things and wanted spiritual refreshment and food. 



70 

I was proud of the old Courier boys. Dr. Battles' career 
showed what an American boy could accomplish and what 
humble beginnings may lead to when energy, determination 
and correct principles furnish the motive power. 

That evening as I went to my room I thought I had spent the 
most pleasant day of my visit yet. I had not only seen beauti- 
fal objects, listaned to eloquent words and heard sweet music, 
bat I had learned useful and noble lessons, taught me not so 
much by what I had heard as by the sight of these men who, 
what seemed but a few years ago, were nothing but boys with 
a future vague and uncertain, and whose career taught me, 
more forcibly than I had ever realized it, that great things may 
have, often do, but wee beginnings. 



71 



CHAPTER XII. 



A STROLL ON GRAND AVENUE— WALKER'S CRYSTAL PHAR- 
MACY — A VISIT TO A FAMOUS SPECIALIST— CHEAP ALUMINUM 

AND ITS MANY USES. 

Another week day had arrived, and I felt as though I were 
now somewhat sated and surfeited with the wonders, magnifi- 
cences, marvels, beauties and surprises that had passed before 
my eyes in such rapid succession for the past week, and though 
my yesterday's experiences had been somewhat restful, yet 
still they too had produced many exciting emotions and Sun- 
day had not been productive of that rest for mind and body 
that the great Creator intended it should, and that I had antici- 
pated on the Saturday evening before. 

I had been too rapid in my movements and my guide had 
helped to crowd into a week what a month's sight-seeing would 
not have been too much for. I had about decided that I would 
go somewhere in the country for a couple of days' rest and 
freedom from the noise, bustle and confusion that surrounded 
me here at all times, when, just as I was passing into the hotel 
refectory for my breakfast, Wehrle appeared upon the scene 
and, after an exchange of howdys, told me that he had just 
received a telegram calling him away upon important business 
and that for the next day or two I would, if I wished to con- 
tinue my wanderings, either have to rely upon my own re- 
sources or hunt up a new cicerone. 

"Suits me exactly," I replied, "I don't mean that I am glad 
to be rid of your society, but I believe that while you are away 
I will, for to-day at least, confine myself to simply strolling 
about within easy reach of the Conemaugh, and, maybe, every 
once in a while drop in and have a chat with an old friend ; 
there are, you know, quite a number of them located in this 
immediate vicinity." 



72 

"A very good idea," said Dick. '' By the time I return you 
will again be ready to continue our wanderings and view some 
of the things you have not yet seen." 

So bidding me farewell he left, and I went on with my break- 
fast. After finishing it I strolled down on the street to take a 
little constitutional along Grand Avenue, when, as I was pass- 
ing the corner of the Conemaugh, I was struck with the mag- 
nificence of a pharmacy that occupied the corner. I looked at 
the sign, which read "Crystal Pharmacy, James R. Wal- 
ker," and as I read it flashed through my mind that this could 
be no other than the same J. R. Walker who in 1894 had been 
the owner of the neat little drug store located on the corner of 
old Market street and the public square. To make sure I 
dropped in and asked for the proprietor, and sure enough he 
was the man. After a hearty handshake and mutual inquiries 
after each other's health, he with pardonable pride showed me 
the extent and beauty of his establishment. It was a veritable 
Temple of Pharmacy. The decorations were superb. Cut- 
glass, silver and gold gleamsd and glittered on every hand. 
S3ores of clerks stood behind the magnificently carved coun- 
ters waiting upon the hundreds of patrons. A huge soda foun- 
tain that was a dream of oriental beauty stood in the centre, 
and the trimmings were of solid silver. Beautiful hanging 
baskets filled with rarest flowers were suspended from a canopy 
made of plate-glass mirrors that covered the fountain, while 
wherever the eye roved some new vision of beauty was beheld. 
A dozen white-aproned attendants stood behind the marble 
counters and served the thirsty throngs that came surging in. 

I walked back into the prescription department where skilled 
graduates were compounding physicians' prescriptions, and 
wherever I looked I saw not only signs of active business life, 
but also indications that only the most approved scientific 
methods were the order in all branches of this immense busi- 
ness. 

As I left this handsome storeroom I could hardly realize that 
I had just stepped out in Blairsville's streets. It seemed that 
I must be in Paris, Berlin, Vienna, or some one of the world's 



73 

gay capitals. Magnificent magnificeiice was everywhere the 
order. Nothing was done on a small scale. All was grand, 
comprehensive, beautiful, unique. 

I had hardly gotten a block away from the Crystal Pharmacy 
when a flying cinder or grain of sand happened to get into my 
eye. The sharp edges of the particle became imbedded in the 
ball of the eye and caused me excruciating pain. A passerby 
soon noticed my dilemma, and stepping up he courteously in- 
quired if he could not render me some assistance. 

"Merely to show me the way to the office of the nearest 
physician, thank you," I replied. 

"If you will let me take you by the arm and lead you I can 
have you at the office of one of the most famous eye specialists 
in the United States in but a minute or two ; it's just across 
the street in Carnegie's big office building," he returned as, 
suiting the action to the word, he took my arm and started 
with me across the granite paved avenue. I was too much 
pained to give any thought as to who this famous specialist 
might be, but when we had reached the door and the gentle- 
man who had so kindly assisted me said, "Here we are at Dr. 
De wait's office," I gave a start ; the name was a very familiar 
one, and instantly the thought occurred to me that more than 
likely this was none other than Harry Dewalt, who used to 
supply the people in Cokeville with the Courier in those old 
days a quarter of a century ago, and who at that time was him- 
self a resident of the same place. 

- While I was in the midst of my cogitations an attendant 
stepped up who conducted us into a most beautiful and spacious 
reception room. After learning the nature of my errand and 
that I was suffering acutely from an injury that required in- 
stant relief, I was given precedence of the many patients who 
were awaiting their turn and ushered into one of the consult- 
ing rooms. Doctor Dewalt stepped up, made a quick examina- 
tion, and then with a deftness and gentleness that I would 
hardly suppose could belong to masculine fingers, removed the 
offending particle and I was instantly relieved and, of course, 
exceedingly grateful that relief had come so quickly. 



74 

"Now, Doctor," said I, "if you can give me a moment or 
two of your more than valuable time I would be glad to ask 
you a question." 

*'I shall be very glad to answer it if I possibly can," he 
suavely replied as he stood awaiting my query. 

"My question is a brief one and not impertinent, I hope. 
What I wish to know is if you are Harry Dewalt who formerly 
lived in Cokeville, and who was one of the Courier's newsboys 
in 1894?" 

"Yes, sir," said he, "I am that very boy." 

"I thought so," I made answer. " And now before j^ou are 
completely mystified as to why one who is apparently a perfect 
stranger should catechize you thus, I wish to introduce myself," 
and with that I disclosed my identity. 

After a very hearty greeting and handshake he said: "I 
should never have known you. Not alone because the lapse of 
twenty-five years has in itself made such a wonderful change 
in your appearance, but because the sea breezes that sweep 
your island home and its hot sun have so bronzed and tanned 
your countenance that you might easily pass for a native South 
Sea Islander." 

We chatted for some little time, during which he told me of 
his early struggles ; how fame and fortune had not easily come, 
but that every step upward had to be fought for ; of his studies 
not only in the colleges and hospitals of this country, but of 
his crossing the ocean and making a tour of the similar institu- 
tions on the continent of Europe. He related in a modest 
manner of his success, so that now, so far as financial considera- 
tions were concerned, he could, if he so wished, give up the 
arduous labors of his profession, " but, ' said he, " I love it, and 
nothing affords me as much pleasure as to know that I am capa- 
ble of giving relief, and do give it, to the thousands of suff*er- 
ing ones that swarm to my offices." 

I felt that I could not trespass longer upon his valuable time, 
so, after accepting an invitation to dine with him at an early 
date, I left to continue mj^ meanderings that had been so rudely 
interrupted. 



70 

As I was slowly sauntering along a feeling of loneliness seized 
me. I gazed upon the throngs that were hurrying so briskly 
and eagerly. along and saw not a familiar face nor received a 
friendly nod from any of the hundreds and thousands who 
surged up and down the broad sidewalk. I thought of the days 
when as a boy I could stand at any corner in the old town and 
know every man, woman and child that passed. Yes, I could 
even tell the ownership of the cats and dogs as they slunk by ; 
knew every horse that walked the streets, and could tell a 
stranger as soon as my eyes rested upon him, even though he 
were two blocks away. Now how changed ! Not a familiar 
object within my view : Not one of these many did I know. 
Not even a stick or stone, a jot or tittle of the old Blairsville 
left. No wonder I became lonely. Just then I was surprised 
to hear some one call me by name. I turned to see who it could 
be, and instantly knew him as he advanced toward me with out- 
stretched hand and a welcome shining from his eyes. It was 
J. D. Butler, one of my friends who had just become fairly 
established in business when I left Blairsville in 1894. 

He gave me a cordial invitation to accompany him to his 
office and warehouse, which, he said, were but a block or two 
distant, and^ of course, I accepted. 

I was very glad indeed that I had met an old acquaintance, 
for soon the feeling of isolation and loneliness that had had 
such strong hold of me but a little while before wore off, and I 
once again felt that though all about me was new and the old 
had vanished, yet every here and there in these palatial marble, 
granite and steel business houses there was still an old flesh 
and blood friend of my former days. 

When we reached Butler's place of business I found another 
of those immense mercantile establishments with which Blairs- 
ville was so much crowded. We entered an immense ware- 
room, which was literally crammed with stoves and ranges of 
all sizes, but instead of the sombre black iron of which it had 
been the custom to make them twentj'^-five years ago, these 
shown and glittered as though fashioned from burnished silver. 
In response to an inquiry as to what material these were made 



76 

from, Mr. Butler replied by saying : " Aluminum, my dear sir, 
aluminum. That is now the only metal used in the manufac- 
ture of those lighter articles of hardware that were formerly 
constructed or made of steel. This beautiful and useful metal, 
'tis true, did not entirely fulfill the many expiectations we had 
formed concerning it twenty or thirty years ago. It was found 
that its tensile strength was not sufficient to permit it to take 
the place of steel in heavy structural work, but that it answered 
admirably for the manufacture of stoves, kitchen utensils, the 
lighter forms of hardware and thousands of other articles 
which were formerly made of iron, steel and brass. Some fifteen 
or sixteen years ago I was led to do some experimenting with a 
view oi endeavoring to produce the metal so cheaply that it 
could be used in many forms that its cost then prohibited. 
After several years of hard labor and the expenditure of consid- 
erable money I was finally successful. I, of course, patented 
the process, not only in this country but all over the civilized 
world, I sold the foreign rights but retained the United States, 
and more even than that. I established factories for the making 
of the metal and then put up establishments in which the pro- 
duct was made up into the many forms in which it could be 
employed to practical and profitable advantage. The company 
under which we operate is known as the Butler Aluminum Com- 
pany, and we have establishments in New York, Philadelphia, 
Boston, Atlanta, Chicago and San Francisco, but the largest of 
all and the headquarters of the concern are right here in good 
old Blairsville." 

After he had finished this portion of the conversation he told 
me that his carriage would be here in just a minute or two for 
the purpose of conveying him to the plant where the metal was 
made and that he would be glad if I would accompany him. 
As the making of aluminum, or rather its extraction from clay, 
was a sight I had never beheld and knew that it would be more 
than interesting, I gladly got into the carriage with him, and 
away we started as fast as the rattling team of blacks, urged 
on by the colored coachman, could speed us over the road. 
The factory was located on the flat across the Conemaugh river. 



77 

between where the old pike used to run and the river, and as we 
reached that neighborhood I saw to my considerable surprise 
that all of that immense territory was now filled with factories 
of various descriptions. The largest among them, however, 
was the one of which my companion was president, the Butler 
Aluminum Company. I was told that it covered forty acres, 
and as we stepped into one of the principal buildings I felt, in 
fact knew, that here was an industrial establishment that any 
city in the world might be proud of. The structure which we 
had entered was one in which the clay was put through the 
first process of the many that it passed through in the intricate 
process of the extraction of the metal. It was filled with queer 
looking, ponderous machines, the peculiar uses of which I 
could not quite understand in spite of the fact that my com- 
panion's explanations were, no doubt, clear and lucid. As we 
went along I was told that electricity was one of the principal 
agents used, and very soon we passed into the building where 
dozens of huge dynamos, standing in rows and whirling and 
buzzing as though a million devils furnished the motive power, 
generated the vast quantities of electrical fluid needed. And 
so we passed on from one stage of the manufacture to another 
until we reached the storage room, where tons upon tons and 
still tons upon tons of the pure and shining metal were piled 
in rows that reminded one of the storage yards of a blast fur- 
nace. 

But this was not all, for I had not yet seen the workshops 
where the aluminum was molded and stamped, hammered and 
fashioned into the many forms in which it was placed upon the 
market. A thousand men or more were busy, and the clatter 
of machinery, together with the hammering of the workmen, 
made the scene a veritable pandemonium, so that I was glad 
when we once more reached the outer air. 

As we drove homeward I thought to myself that I had just 
seen what was as striking an exponent of the more than won- 
derful progress of this more than wonderful twentieth century. 
A metal that fifty years before was one of the semi-precious 
ones had, by the inventive genius of man, stimulated by the 



spirit of progress with which the very atmosphere was charged, 
become now so cheap that it had forced old King Iron to bend 
the knee and had robbed him of half his kingdom. 

By the time my friend let me out at the portals of the Cone- 
maugh I was quite ready to take another rest, and had also a 
very vigorous appetite for the elegant and substantial dinner 
that I knew was awaiting me. 

The evening I spent quietly in one of the pleasant parlors of 
the hotel, reading the ten-page Courier that I had purchased 
from a newsboy, and by eleven o'clock, while the city was still 
alive and its roar and bustle filled the air, I was snugly en- 
sconsed in my couch vigorously wooing the drowsy god, who 
readily responded to my blandishments. 



79 



CHAPTER XIII. 



A RESUME OF THE COMPLETE CHANGE OF SCENE— AN INSPEC- 
TION OF ABATTOIRS, STOCK YARDS, SEWERAGE SYSTEM, ETC — 
MAGNIFICENT CATHEDRAL AND EPISCOPAL RESIDENCE. 

Another morning dawned bright and clear, and as I arose at 
a somewhat early hour and looked out over that part of the 
city that was embraced within the range of my view I felt sorry, 
very sorry indeed, that soon I would look at it for the lasttime. 
For when I turned my back upon it, it would in all human 
probability be never to return. I would leave behind forever 
the scenes that had within the past week so strongly impressed 
me and filled me with so much wonder and awe, and would 
possess of all this wealth, elegance, magnificence, thrift and 
splendor, when I reached my island home that is washed by the 
rippling waves of the smiling Pacific, but simple recollections 
that would be somewhat confused by the hurly burly through 
which I had passed. Before my mind's eye would no longer 
appear the Blairsville of 1894, nor its appearance in the years 
that lay between that date and thirtj^ odd years before. In- 
stead of the modest little town with its quiet people, there 
would appear upon the panorama of my memory a vision of a 
huge, overpowering leviathan, filled with rushing crowds of 
people. Instead of green grass there would be granite pave- 
ments. In place of the pleasant little homes that lined the 
streets there would be towering stone, marble and granite 
giants, whose lofty tops are almost hidden in the clouds. 
Should I attempt to recall the spot of my birth, instead of the 
little frame structure in which that event occurred I would see 
a veritable palace, and so on all through. All would be changed 
and the empty name alone remain. The -thought was some- 
what saddening, but my sadness was tempered with rejoicing. 



80 

1 rejoiced that all this evolution and transformation had 
brought with it for so many of my old friends wealth and fame. 
That it had fulfilled their wildest dreams, realized their fondest 
hopes and become the summum bonum of their entire existence. 
I rejoiced, too, for myself. I was proud that I could claim this 
queen among cities as the place of my nativity, and that when 
I said, "I come from Blairsville," the term conveyed as much 
meaning as to locality as though I had said, "I hail from 
London." 

Just as I was in the midst of these wanderings of the mind a 
rap at the door somewhat startled me, but when I opened it I 
found that it was simply a bell boy with a note from Wehrle 
informing me that he had returned and asking me to get ready 
for a carriage ride after breakfast. 

I, therefore, quickly dressed myself and proceeded to the 
dining hall, where again I met my friend, and where once 
more we satisfied the cravings of the inner man as can only be 
done by appropriate selections from the menu provided by mine 
host Duncan of the Conemaugh. 

After we had finished the meal we descended to the street, 
and while we were whirling along in the carriage Wehrle told 
me that on this trip he proposed to take me to a district that, 
while not so beautiful as were many of those I had seen, were 
yet worthy of careful inspection. We were bound for that 
portion of the city which covered that part of the region where 
Blacklick creek emptied into the Conemaugh ; that territory 
stretching south from the old West Penn Railroad and that in 
1894 and before had been given over entirely to farming pur- 
poses. 

As we drew near the place Wehrle remarked : "It was at one 
time prophesied bj^ some of the land owners here that this was 
bound, in case the town grew, to become a park ; that here a 
famous and beautiful summer resort would be founded, and 
that all these many acres would be used as play and picnic 
grounds. But as the city grew it was seen that it was a district 
where should be confined the abattoirs or slaughter-houses, the 
glue and fertilizer factories, the place where the sewerage of a 



81 

great city could be concentrated and utilized, and where all 
those manufactures and pursuits could be carried on whose 
proximity to more pretentious districts would be in many ways 
offensive. Besides, civil engineers had easily discovered that 
the trend of the land and its formation were such that this was 
the natural place for the location of all these establishments." 

While scenes of beauty were lacking, and instead of beauti- 
ful buildings, elegant driveways and adornments of architec- 
ture, there were to be seen low, long, rambling structures, out 
of which came odors that certainly had no origin in " Araby 
the blest," yet the sight was an interesting one and revealed 
another phase of the city's life and being. Away in the dis- 
tance yonder were immense stock yards, in which were un- 
loaded the cattle, sheep and swine that were needed to feed the 
teeming multitudes that made Blairsville their home. Yonder 
were the abattoirs where these were slaughtered. Right be- 
side the slaughter-houses and all around were glue factories, 
curled hair factories, fertilizer establishments, bone mills, and 
a hundred different others where were made up into useful 
commodities the offal from the abattoirs. 

As we drove on my guide pointed out an enormous establish- 
ment located near the river's edge. 

"There," said he, "is where all the main sewers of the city 
converge, and in that big structure every particle of the sew- 
age is utilized in the making of fertilizers. Not a bit of it is 
lost, but all of it is again restored to the soil from whence it 
came." 

It would take much more time and space than is at my dis- 
posal to give a description in detail of what was to be seen in 
this busy district. I would like to enlarge upon the utilization 
of the waste products. How everything was put to use. How 
wealth was created out of what we had formerly thrown away, 
buried out of sight or let our rivers and streams carry off. But 
time is precious and I must hurry on to other scenes that, while 
perhaps more pleasing to the eye, are yet not any more im- 
portant in the economical system of the world and to the gen- 
eral prosperity than are the operations just witnessed. 



82 

As the coachman turned the horses toward the centre of the 
city my companion turned to me and said : " We will take an- 
other route in returning. I want to stop and show you the 
Catholic cathedral, of which you had, no doubt, heard before 
your visit." 

This was true, for often in letters received from friends had 
they spoken of the magnificence of this structure and the 
ornateness of its appearance. I had not intended to leave the 
city without inspecting it, and I was very glad indeed that to- 
day in this most convenient, in fact luxurious, manner I could 
visit it. 

As we rolled along over the asphalt driveway Wehrle told 
me that along about 1905 a new diocese had been created and 
that Blairsville was made the seat of the bishopric, and this, of 
course, brought about the building of the cathedral. He also 
reminded me of what I had forgotten, and that was that the 
little curly-headed Ralph Wilson, who was still wearing knicker- 
bockers when I left, was nothing less than the grave and rever- 
end bishop in charge of this diocese. He had been consecrated 
but a year or two before, but had already given evidence of the 
fact that he was fully equipped for the grave and responsible 
duties of his holy ofiice. Many predictions as to his future 
advancement were freely made, and Wehrle had not yet finished 
telling me of him when a turn in the road revealed the cathe- 
dral looming up before us in all its wondrous beauty. It had 
been my good fortune to travel through the old world, and I 
had wandered into many of the cathedral cities, but never had 
I seen a similar structure surpass in beauty this noble pile that 
arose before us. Though but an infant in age, it being the most 
recently built of all, yet the skill of the artist had been so great 
in the origination of the design and the selection of the build- 
ing material that it, in spite of its newness, yet presented a 
venerable appearance and looked as though for centuries it had 
bidden defiance to rain and wind and storm. In its decoration 
the art of the sculptor had been verily exhausted, and from 
corner stone to the foot of the great golden cross that sur- 
mounted the lofty spire there were statues, arabesques and 



83 

beautiful tracings worked in stone. After a long survey of the 
outside, in which I drank in all the beauty that ray vision could 
comprehend and take in, Ave stepped inside to behold the 
glories of the interior. In the pages of this little volume I 
have already described so many scenes of beauty and splendor 
that my vocabulary is exhausted and I can but say : " Go see 
for yourselves." You will leave as did I, feeling that here the 
perfection of art had been reached ; that its every adjunct had 
been brought into requisition so that the acme had been at- 
tained. 

The episcopal residence that stood to the right and a little 
back of the cathedral is also worthy of more than mere men- 
tion, but space fails and I must carry my reader hurriedly on. 

After we left the cathedral and were once more speeding 
toward the centre of the city, we passed in quick succession 
many notable buildings and public institutions, all of which 
are worthy of special mention by an abler pen, but were I to 
give a detailed description of them all, or even one-tenth of 
them, this volume would be swelled into a ponderous tome. 

There is one institution, however, that I feel as though I must 
devote a little of my space and time to, and that is the steel 
tower, on the top of which was placed what was said to be the 
best equipped astronomical observatory in the world. The 
tower was built upon the same plan as the one erected by Eiffel 
at the Paris exposition away back in the nineties, and was 
famed and wonderful, not so much for its height, but for the 
fact that it was devoted entirely to scientific purposes, and was 
a gilt to the city of a generous citizen. I, of course, inquired 
who this large hearted person was, and was surprised to learn 
that it was another of my old friends and schoolmates, M. D. 
Maher by name. That appellation is a little too stiff, however, 
and I prefer to say "Mike," as we used to in the days of the 
old Blairsville Academy when he and a company of choice 
spirits, including myself, were making a somewhat feeble at- 
tempt to struggle through with amo, amas, amat, and acquire 
some understanding as to what was meant by an equation of 
the first degree. 



84 

When Blairsville commenced to grow "Mike" opened his 
eyes to see what was lying around loose that if taken hold of 
would cause the golden stream to flow his way. It didn't take 
him long to find it, either, in the shape of the business of man- 
ufacturing artificial ice. He started in on rather a small scale, 
but as the city grew so did his business. He was fortunate 
enough to Invent some improved machinery that wonderfully 
cheapened the cost of production, and which gave him a monop- 
oly of the entire business of supplying this vast city with an 
article that is so largely used and that is so much of a necessity 
as is ice. His plant is an immense one, I am told, and quite in 
keeping with the other mammoth enterprises with which the 
city was filled and the fame of which covered the world. A 
hundred teams were busy in distributing the crystal product, 
and "Mike" had by this business become several times a mil- 
lionaire. 

Like so many of the other old residents this acquision of 
wealth had but served to increase and intensify the liberality 
of which he had always possessed a goodly portion, and a mil- 
lion dollars of his wealth was given toward the building of this 
tower and its astronomical equipment. 

He had also largely endowed it and placed in charge as direc- 
tor another old Blairsville boy in the person of Professor Nor- 
man Lewis, whose inclinations when a student at college had 
led him to pay special attention to the study of the heavens. 
He had gone on and on in this direction until finally he made 
it his life work, and acquired world-wide fame. He had made 
many important discoveries, and even now, the greatest one of 
all was daily, yes hourly, expected, namely that of being able 
to understand, or rather decipher, what the inhabitants of Mars 
mean by the signals they had for years been making to the 
people of old Earth. Professor Lewis had been able several 
years before to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that not 
only was Mars inhabited, but also that its people were engaged 
in endeavoring to attract our attention, and as soon as these 
two facts were established he started in to learn what these 
signals meant and what the Marsians were saying. He fully 



85 

expected to succeed, and, as I said a moment ago, the scientific 
world fully expected that at any hour he would be able to solve 
the mystery. 

After another long and lingering look at the tower that shot 
so majestically in the air, and a last glance at the monster tele- 
scope that stood pointing upward ready for the master who, in 
a few hours, would peer through it at the mysteries of the sky, 
we once more started toward the Conemaugh, reaching there 
just in time to prepare for dinner. 



86 



CHAPTER XIV. 



SHORT DESCRIPTION OF A FEW OTHER ENTERPRISES— HOW THE 
CHURCHES HAVE PROSPERED— BLAIRSVILLE FEMALE SEMIN- 
ARY IN 1919— A LAST FAREWELL TO BLAIRSVILLE. 

And now, dear reader, the time and space at my disposal for 
telling you of the Blairsville of 1919 is almost at an end. Not 
that I have told you all, nor even the one-tenth part of it. Had 
it been my purpose to give you a full and detailed description 
of all that excited my wonder and astonishment, I would still 
be telling you of what I saw simply on the first day's sight- 
seeing. I have passed without word of comment or descrip- 
tion scores, yes hundreds, of enterprises and concerns that are 
equally as mighty and vast as are the ones a feeble account of 
which appears in these pages. The few that I have named I 
did so, not alone because they were vaster, more magnificent 
and grander than the others, but principally because old friends 
and acquaintances were identified with them and I was, there- 
fore, knowing the humble beginnings that most of them had, 
better able to make a suitable comparison with the then and 
now, so that the reader might the better understand how com- 
plete has been the change and transformation. 

Neither have I been able to do justice to even that phase of 
my theme, for many of my old friends have been passed by 
unnoticed. In bringing my narrative to a close, I will name 
but a few of whom up until this time nothing has been said, 
even though a chapter would not have sufficed to do each of 
them justice. For instance, there is Blairsville's magnificent 
public school system. When I left the foundation for it had 
already been laid and our public schools were the pride of 
every citizen. If we were proud of them then, how much 
more reason for pardonable pride now ! Fifty school buildings, 



87 

each one a palace. A High School with a curriculum equal to 
that of a college. Instead of a dozen teachers a thousand. In 
place of half a thousand pupils a hundred times that many. 
But, what is better than all, the results are such as to justify 
the immense outlay of money and time devoted to this purpose. 
To be a graduate of Blairsville's public schools has a peculiar 
significance. It means that for all practical purposes one's 
education is finished and that it has given what a quarter of a 
century before it took public school, academy and college to 
complete. Professor W. C. McKee, A. M., L. L. D., is the super- 
intendent, and to his unremitting application and toil, coupled 
with love for the profession, is due much of the superiority of 
Blairsville's free educational system. 

And then there are some of the other churches. Our United 
Presbyterian friends have not lagged behind in the procession, 
as a visit to several of their most beautiful church buildings 
revealed. I wish that I had time to tell you of the noble 
grandeur of their First church, that stands on the very spot 
where stood the one in 1894. Perhaps as perfect an illustration 
of the completeness of the change that has everywhere taken 
place would be to present two pictures : one the U. P. Church 
building of 1894 ; the other the superb specimen of architecture 
denominated the First United Presbyterian Church of 1919. 

Then I might tell of Rev. R. E. McClure, who was pastor 
when I left and who is still in the harness with, if anything, 
more vigor and eloquence than he had in those days. I could 
speak of how he had become a national leader of religious 
thought so that his utterances upon any theological subject 
were regarded as the final and decisive deliverance. 

And the Lutherans, too. They had grown and flourished 
like a green bay tree. Not a whit behind any of the other 
denominations in any respect. Their houses of worship per- 
fect gems of beauty, and their pastors dignified, eloquent and 
scholarly. In my wanderings one day I inquired as to what 
had become of Rev. F. H. Crissman, who was in charge of the 
single Lutheran Church in 1894, and was told that he had be- 
come the head of the Theological Seminary at Gettysburg. 



88 

The Episcopalians had also wonderfully increased, and one 
of the chief pleasures of my visit was the inspection of some 
of the structures in which they worshipped. There were quite 
a number of them, and many of the leaders of the wealthy and 
fashionable set of the city were among the membership. Rev. 
J. A. Vance, the rector of the little St. Peter's Church of 1894, 
was still in Blairsville and had become one of the leading 
divines of his denomination. Indeed, it was commonly said 
that he was about ready for a bishop's seat, and that he would, 
without doubt, be the next spiritual head of the diocese. 

And so I could go on with the others, but even for cataloguing 
there is neither room nor time. There are still some other 
matters that claim my attention, and in the few more pages 
that are allotted me I must crowd what only a bulky volume 
should contain. 

I must, even though I provoke the impatience of the reader 
whom I have promised to be brief, make mention, if but briefly, 
of Blairsville Female Seminary. This institution had been 
long established when I left and at just about that time taken 
on a new lease of life. If I mistake not it was in 1893 or '94 
that Rev. J. W. Crisswell put his shoulder to the wheel, and it 
was not long before the fruits of his labor began to appear. 
At first the momentous question was, " How shall we fill the 
school?" This was not for long their bete noir, and the next 
perplexing question that arose was, "Where shall we put all 
the pupils that come?" 

"We must have a new seminary," said Dr. Crisswell to the 
board of directors. A new one was built, and the directors 
builded wisely. They built both for the present and for the 
future, and when the immense structure was finished and stood 
there a beautiful creation of a skilled architect's genius, they 
had a home for a thousand young women. A home, too, in 
every sense of the word, and it was this making of the institu- 
tion home-like in its character and adding to it the best instruc- 
tors and methods that the educational world aff'orded that made 
Blairsville Female Seminary what it is to-day. A school where 
young women from all over this broad land come, to be "finished 



89 

off" they used to say in 1894, but in this enlightened day and 
generation we say "to be made a woman." Dr. Crisswell is 
still in charge and will, no doubt, remain until his days on 
earth are done. 

Then to turn to the mercantile world. Not a word have I 
said of R. C. Graff's beautiful jewelry store. He had become 
Blairsville's Tiffany, and in his storeroom, which is a veritable 
palace, there shone and glittered, and glowed and gleamed 
enough diamonds, rubies, sapphires, pearls and other precious 
stones for an emperor's ransom. 

And Charles L. Clarke, who in the days of '94 was the owner 
of a neat little jewelry store alongside of the old Courier 
office. He had long since given up the cleaning and repairing 
of watches and clocks, and was now a manufacturer of silver- 
ware, and the stamp " Clarke " upon that sort of ware is in 
1919 as familiar as " Rogers " or " Gorham " used to be in 1894. 
I went through his factory, and I wish that I could tell you of 
the many beautiful and wonderful things I saw ; of the artists 
sitting at their tables designing some new fanciful creation ; 
of the hundreds of workmen hammering, fashioning, etching 
and engraving, and then the product of their skill and genius ; 
how I saw literally car load after car load of silver in the most 
beautiful forms and shapes that it was possible for the inspir- 
ation of an artist to conceive. 

But I must hurry along with rapid step, for soon I leave these 
scenes. I soon will be at the end of the last chapter and then 
I must be forever silent. 

I believe that I have not described any of the palatial man- 
sions that line the magnificent boulevards and that I saw in 
the numerous rides I took about the city. Many of the men 
who were in business when I was a former resident had long 
since retired from active business life and were now enjoying 
their ease and their wealth in the handsome residences they 
had built. Worthy of special mention among the hundreds of 
palace-like homes would be George W. Crede, Jr.'s, S. D. Stif- 
fey's, J. G. Long's, E. M. Evans', C. L. Tittle's, Dr. R. B. Cum- 
mins', E. H. Thompson's, and dozens upon dozens of others. 



90 

I ought to describe them, but it is impossible. In the first 
place the lack of space confronts me, and in the second place 
my stock of adjectives and superlatives is entirely exhausted. 
Were I to begin a description I would be forced to use the 
expressions that are so dear to the feminine heart, such as 
"awfully nice," "perfectly lovely," "just too sweet for any- 
thing,'' and the many others they use when they wish to ex- 
press their wonder, surprise, admiration or kindred emotions. 
I can only say that all styles of architecture were represented. 
The much abused Queen Anne was neighbor to a structure, 
built in Moorish style. One modeled after the Colonial period 
almost touched elbows with a fantastic, but beautiful, structure 
of composite order. But why this bald enumeration? 'Twill 
serve no useful purpose, for the eye, and it alone, must be used 
if one would realize what a pleasing experience it is to take a 
survey of the homes in which Blairsville's wealthy live. Not 
alone is there beauty in the residences, but the grounds that 
surround then are, if that were possible, even more entrancing 
to the vision. But who can describe green grass, gorgeous 
flowers, tinkling fountains, tropic plants, spreading trees, 
marble statues, creeping vines and all the other adornments of 
these park-like surroundings? Nearly all my readers have 
gazed upon the charms of Central Park in New York or feasted 
their eyes upon Philadelphia's beautiful Pairmount. Combine 
the charms of the two and you will have a faint conception of 
the beauty of the scenes that greet one's vision as he rides or 
walks along Oakes' Point Boulevard, strolls through Falling 
Run Park, or along any of the other avenues, boulevards and 
parks that are given up to the dominion of "home, sweet 
home." 

But the time has arrived when I must bid farewell not only 
to the reader, but to the scenes that have occupied my atten- 
tion for the past few weeks. Regretfully, sorrowfully, yes, I 
am not ashamed to confess it, tearfully, I at last bid farewell to 
Wehrle, who has been such a kind and faithful guide. To all 
my other friends who have vied with each other to make my visit 
pleasant, I bid a sad adieu. I say good-bye to even the inani- 



91 

mate objects that surround me, and as in company with a party 
of friends I walked to the Grand Central Station, I muttered as 
I passed it, " Good-bye, City Hall," and so with many others of 
Blairsville's beautiful buildings. As I pass through the grand 
metropolitan station I whisper another farewell. But even an 
end comes to the saying of adieux. The caller announces that 
"cars for the San Francisco Express are now ready," and I 
pass through the gate to enter the sleeper, which I will not 
leave until the Golden Gate is reached. My last act just before 
I step aboard is to buy a copy of the Courier, and by the time 
I am comfortably settled in the luxurious seat the train moves 
slowly off and I am really and actually leaving dear old Blairs- 
ville. " Good-bye," I whisper again and again as I am whirled 
by some object with which I had become familiar in the wander- 
ings of the past two weeks. And now we are entering the 
thinly settled districts ; soon Blairsville will fade from view. I 
go to the end of the car so that I can look back and obtain the 
last glimpse. Now all has disappeared except the top of the 
Observatory tower, and it, too, is beginning to fade away. Just 
as it is faintly outlined against the sky, just before it fades into 
nothingness, I say my last farewell : Good-bye Blairsville, 
good-bye." 

I return to my seat, and after a little while spent in endeavor- 
ing to control my emotion, I pick up the Courier to see what 
has been going on. The first item that greets my eye is one 
displayed in bold headlines: "We Are Now Talking With 
THE Marsians— Prof. Lewis Has Solved Their Signals— 
They Ask About Our Manner of Life— They Want to 
Learn How We Live and What We Know." 

You, however, know the particulars of this as well as I do, 
for it was more than a nine daj^s' wonder, and I only mention 
it as curious that the discovery should be made just at my 
departure and I should be able to bear with me another recol- 
lection of Blairsville that was not only wonderful, but awe- 
inspiring. Just think of it ! In Blairsville and by a Blairsville 
boy we first talked with the people of Mars and solved the 
great mystery that had so long confronted us. 



And now I have reached the Pacific's smiling and sunny 
shores and soon am sailing toward Samoa upon its broad and 
heaving bosom. I stand upon the deck of the noble steamer 
and gaze at the fast receding land, and just when I have had 
the last glimpse of California's vine-clad hills, her golden 
slopes and flowery plains, I say good-bye again. This time it's 
"Good-bye, my fatherland, good-bye." 




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